Slovenia to procure air defence systems from Diehl Defence

In this way, Slovenia has become the first of the 19 members of the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) to sign a programme agreement with Germany for the purchase of the IRIS-T SLM systems, the defence ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ESSI members signed in August a MoU with Germany, under which interested countries can enter into separate programme agreements for specific projects, the ministry said.

IRIS-T SLM is the medium-range version of the IRIS-T SL air defence missile system designed and produced by Diehl. The system protects against aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, and guided weapons and enables simultaneous engagement of multiple targets from very short to medium range within extremely brief reaction times.