Germany to deliver two more IRIS-T air defence systems to Ukraine by year's end

Ukraine will receive two IRIS-T short– and medium-range air defence systems from Germany by the end of 2024.

Major General Christian Freuding, Head of the Planning Staff and the Special Task Force for Ukraine at Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence, stated in a conversation with journalists in Kyiv that in recent days, Germany had supplied Ukraine with artillery howitzers, tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles and launched an attack drone programme.

"The next IRIS-T SLM (mid-range) and SLS (short-range) systems due to come within the next days and weeks, before Christmas," the German major general announced.

"And this support is ongoing over Christmas, and after 1 January, and after 21 January, and after 23 February, the date of the federal elections proposed in Germany," he vowed.

In early September, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany had ordered a total of 17 IRIS-T air defence systems for Ukraine. These are eight medium-range systems (SLM) and nine short-range systems (SLS).

By early October, Ukraine had received four IRIS-T SLM and three SLS systems. Subsequently, the German Ministry of Defence announced the delivery of two more SLM and SLS systems. Additionally, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in a conversation with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, promised that Berlin would ship another IRIS-T system by the end of the year.