Iris-T Offers Commonality for Brazilian Defence

Diehl Defence is showcasing its air-to-air missile (AAM) and ground-based air defence (GBAD)  capabilities at LAAD 2023 in Rio de Janeiro.

Highlighting the fact that the Iris-T AAM is integrated onto the Gripen aircraft and is flying with the Brazilian Air Force, the company is also emphasising the utility of the GBAD that incorporates a ground-launched variant of Iris-T and is of great interest to Brazil for the operational commonality and logistics simplification such a solution implies.

David Voskuhl, Diehl Defence’s VP of Public Relations, explained that, with the GBAD, they are combining features such as the radar control centre and launcher “also with our Iris-T missiles, and it is designed for medium ranges, that is to say, attitudes of up to 20 kilometres and distance of up to 40 kilometres”. The system is being displayed in its SLS and SLM versions, optimised for short and medium ranges. Currently designed purely for ground-based operations, Voskuhl indicated the company could not rule out the possibility of a future naval optimisation.

Santiago Rivas reporting from Rio de Janeiro for MON