Europe
Airbus links German IRIS-T SLM and Swedish Patriot to one air defence network in Crete
During exercise SPARTAN ARROW 26 in Chania, Airbus networked the German IRIS-T SLM, a Swedish Patriot battery and the German Army’s LeFlaSys through a single command post, the company says.
Airbus Defence and Space says it connected German and Swedish air defence units into one network during the NATO exercise SPARTAN ARROW 26 in Chania, Crete, with live missile firings against drone and cruise missile targets. The company announced the results on October 14.
According to Airbus, the German Air Force’s IRIS-T SLM and the Swedish Air Force’s Patriot were both linked to the German SAMOC command post, the node that coordinates air defence weapons. The company also networked the German Army’s LeFlaSys short-range drone defence system into the same picture.
Two firsts for certification
Airbus reports two milestones. The IRIS-T SLM fired real missiles for the first time with an all-German crew, which it describes as a prerequisite for official NATO certification. The Swedish Air Force, for its part, completed its first independent live firing of a Patriot through the networked system. Airbus says this supports NATO certification of the Swedish Patriot systems and demonstrates interoperability with Germany.
The scenario was run under realistic, real-time conditions against drones and cruise missiles, the company says. Data on bandwidth, response time and resistance to jamming gathered during the trials is to feed into NATO’s work on networked command and control.
Andreas Reinecke, Head of Defence Digital & Cyber at Airbus Defence and Space, said effective air defence depends on “a seamlessly integrated overall capability” rather than on individual products.
The exercise on Crete
The Airbus account comes from the same exercise that German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias visited a day earlier, as covered in Dendias and Pistorius at the Crete Missile Range: from cooperation to joint production of defence systems. The two ministers watched Patriot and LeFlaSys firings and a firing linked to the IRIS-T SLM certification.
The Airbus statement is a company account. The German armed forces and NATO have not published a certification decision in the material reviewed, and the performance data mentioned by Airbus has not been released.