Development of a Secondary Guided Missile for the Tactical Air Defense System MEADS
Koblenz, 05/11/2007.
The tactical air defense system MEADS will be complemented by the secondary guided missile IRIS-T SL. This increases operational flexibility and decreases costs.
In Koblenz, the Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB) commissioned the Diehl BGT Defence company with the adaptive development and qualification of the guided missile IRIS-T SL on 11 May 2007.
MEADS, a modern all-weather and fully mobile air defense system, is being developed jointly by Germany, the United States of America and Italy. The system will be capable of countering the entire aerial threat spectrum, including ballistic missiles. The American missile Patriot Advanced Capability PAC-3 will be used as basic armament.
The Bundeswehr MEADS systems will be equipped with a secondary guided missile to increase flexibility and to save costs. The IRIS-T air-to-air guided missile is the basis for this. The missile, until now launched from the aircraft, will be enabled to start from the ground by means of an adaptive development. Furthermore, the new subsystem will be integrated into the overall system MEADS. The national adaptive development and qualification of the secondary guided missile IRIS-T SL will be carried out in parallel with the development of the tactical air defense system MEADS until the year 2013.
