The German company Diehl Defence has announced the receipt of a contract for further development of the IRIS-T missile in its Block II version.
This "air-to-air" missile, IRIS-T, is in service with over 10 countries and is integrated into the Eurofighter, Tornado, some versions of the F-16, Spanish F/A-18, Korean KF-21, and F-5E. It is also utilized in the short-range air defense system IRIS-T SLS, which is operated by Ukraine and has also been ordered by three other countries.
At the same time, Diehl's official announcement is rather brief and seems to be made "in hindsight." As noted, the agreement with BAAINBw (the procurement department of the Bundeswehr) was concluded at the end of December 2024. It involves the development and serial production of IRIS-T Block II. That's all. No timelines, no volume, and no details regarding the modernization of the missile or the differences between the standard IRIS-T and the new Block II have been disclosed.
Although Diehl has mentioned "A," they haven't elaborated on "B." Some information regarding this development, gathered by Defense Express, was made public earlier. Specifically, in December, the Bundestag approved 38 defense projects totaling 21 billion euros.
We reported on this but focused on the Taurus missile refurbishment project, as its repair turned out to be more expensive than ordering new ones. However, the overall list included a mention of work on IRIS-T Block II, for which 25 million euros was to be allocated. This relatively small amount might explain why Diehl chose not to elaborate on the scope of work.
Moreover, the content of the work on IRIS-T Block II was outlined by Diehl Defence's Chief Program Officer Harald Buschek during the ILA airshow held in Berlin last June. According to him, the new version of the missile will feature a new seeker head, updated electronics, and in-flight data exchange capabilities.
Thus, it is possible to expect that the target engagement range parameters for the air version of the IRIS-T Block II will remain unchanged at 25 km, as will the size of the warhead at 11.4 kg. Meanwhile, the reaction time, range, and target acquisition quality, as well as jamming resistance and other parameters related to the upgrade of the electronic component base, will reach a new level. The clarification regarding in-flight data exchange may allow for missile retargeting during flight or launching "blindly" using external target designation, followed by the missile's seeker acquiring the target.
It is also quite logical to expect that after completing work on the baseline version of the IRIS-T, similar innovations will be integrated into the IRIS-T SLM surface-to-air missile, which has a target engagement range of up to 40 km. At the same time, these innovations are evidently already integrated into the latest version of the IRIS-T SLX surface-to-air missile, which will have a range of 80 km.