Diehl Defence’s Multi-Layer Solution for Air and Drone Defence

Air defence systems are used to protect populations, important infrastructure, objects as well as ground troops against attacks from the air. Particularly ground-based air defence is capable of providing continuous area protection over the long term. The current global security situation favors defence systems that offer protection against a variety of hostile attacks, such as attacks from manned aircraft, unmanned aerial systems and helicopters at different ranges.

Therefore, Diehl Defence has continuously developed its "Layered Air Defence Approach", based on the IRIS-T product family. The aim is to encounter different threats and threat scenarios from very-short range to long-range and to defend even against hypersonic missiles. Diehl Defence has thus become a leading system house for state-of-the-art defence systems covering different ranges.

Based on the guided missile IRIS-T SL – developed and qualified taking into account the specifications of the German Bundeswehr, especially against cruise missiles and high-flying UAVs – Diehl Defence has successfully launched the air defence system IRIS-T SLM on the international market. By now 10 countries have opted for air defence solutions from Diehl Defence.

Besides the IRIS-T SLM system for medium-range (effective intercept range 40 km, altitude coverage of 20 km), which has also been commissioned by the German Bundeswehr and has been selected for the medium interception layer of the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), Diehl Defence also offers the IRIS-T SLS air defence system for short-range (effective intercept range 12 km, altitude coverage 6 km) as part of its layered air defence approach. The consistent use of open interfaces enables flexible integration of highly mobile IRIS-T SLS units into the IRIS-T SLM architecture.

The result is a combination of sensors and effectors, which can be guided centrally, de-centrally or autonomously by a common, scalable guidance system. Furthermore, it can be operated with other systems. The air defence systems IRIS-T SLM and IRIS-T SLS form a system-of-systems meeting the requirements of a "Layered Air Defence" against the modern range of threats.

System variants for extended medium-range (IRIS-T SLX, effective intercept range 80 km, altitude coverage more than 25 km) and for the defence against hypersonic threats (HYDEF, radius of more than 100 km, altitude coverage more than 50 km) are currently under development in order to complete the IRIS-T GBAD product family.

Also in the area of drone defence, Diehl Defence has been using its expertise to offer solutions for counter-UAS for years. Just like the drones themselves, which differ greatly in terms of size, range and area of application, Diehl Defence offers different c-UAS solutions from its versatile product portfolio. Two examples of c-UAS solutions are the non-kinetic HPEM-technology based Guardion for GBAD, to protect high-value assets e.g. GBAD radars, and the kinetic c-UAS system “Sky Sphere” with the new eMissile effector CICADA.