The IRIS-T SLM anti-aircraft missile complex is a development of the German company Diehl Defense, it is similar to the Norwegian NASAMS. Both complexes use a solution to convert an air-to-air missile into an anti-aircraft missile.

If the American AIM-120 is used at NASAMS, the Germans created their own development – the IRIS-T missile. But for the anti-aircraft version it had to be completely redesigned, since it was a missile for close air combat with a launch range of up to 20 km.

The main feature of the missile is a complex combined targeting system, consisting of a combination of the radio command system, satellite navigation and inertial system, and it is already guided to the target thanks to the infrared homing head.

At the initial stage, a version of the short-range air defense system was developed for the Swedish army – the IRIS-T SLS, better known under the designation RBS-98. It uses the infrared head IRIS-T, which gets a more powerful motor. Considering the ground launch, its range is estimated at 12 km range and 8 km altitude. RBS-98 completed final tests in summer 2020.

In parallel with the mass production of the IRIS-T SLS, the developer Diehl Defense introduces its version of the IRIS-T SLM, a medium-range air defense system that allows the target to be defeated at a distance of up to 40 km. and up to 20 km altitude. For this, the IRIS-T rocket was radically redesigned and increased in size.

Also added to the complex itself a separate radar station TRML-4D from another German company Hensoldt, which provides a 250 km range. A radio technical intelligence station belonging to this company is also located inside the complex. And the operation of the complex is carried out with the help of Airbus’s IBMS-FC combat control software.

The IRIS-T SLM was first tested as part of the complex in 2014.