Non-Subscriber Extract
Diehl test fires land-based IRIS-T
By Donald McFarlane and Helmoed-Romer Heitman
07 April 2008
Diehl BGT Defence completed a successful test firing of a land-based version of the IRIS-T air defence missile at the Overberg Test Range (OTB) near Cape Town, South Africa on 3 April.
The IRIS-T Surface Launched Standard (SLS) short-range missile, fired from a lightweight all-terrain truck, was originally developed for the air-to-air role. The test saw the missile launched vertically for the first time.
According to Diehl, the firing was conducted in a "representative air defence scenario" and resulted in a direct hit on the target drone. The target was detected and tracked by a Saab Giraffe AMB air defence radar from more than 10 km away, which then passed the data to the missile over an integral RF datalink with its infrared seeker steering in the terminal phase.
An OTB spokesperson said the firing was performed against an EADS 3 Sigma Iris Jet target.
The demonstration was watched by representatives from seven countries that are considering the acquisition of the IRIS-T SLS, according to a Diehl spokesperson, who declined to name them.
Image: The IRIS-T SLS missile was vertically launched from an all-terrain truck (Diehl)