Diehl Defence is exhibiting at DEFEA 2023, taking place at the Metropolitan Exhibition Centre in Athens, Greece, from May 9 to May 11. The company will exhibit a display of selected products on its stand F11 in Hall 3.
Diehl Defence representatives will be available to welcome visitors from armed forces, government agencies and industrial organizations, discussing the company’s capabilities and products, of which ground-based air defence systems (GBAD), missiles, counter-UAS protection systems and ammunition will be presented at the stand.
Diehl Defence has a long-lasting relationship with Greece, particularly through the countries’ involvement in the development and production of the short-range air-to-air missile IRIS-T. In fact, Greece was the first of seven partners in the IRIS-T consortium to sign all required documents for launching the programme in the 1990s.
IRIS-T has been a success factor ever since, now being operational with many air forces worldwide on a number of platforms, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, SAAB Gripen, F-16, F-18 and F-5. In addition, the missile and its technology have been further adapted for ground-to-air applications, namely the ground-based air defence systems IRIS-T SLS and IRIS-T SLM from Diehl Defence.
Most recently at the end of last year, Diehl Defence CEO Helmut Rauch met with Nikos Kostopoulos, CEO of Hellenic Defence Systems (HDS), to sign a cooperation agreement for work on GBAD systems, based on the common IRIS-T experience. The agreement paves the way for further technological and industrial collaboration on IRIS-T SLS and IRIS-T SLM.
Diehl Defence ground-based air defence systems have been delivered to several export customers. Furthermore, IRIS-T SLM has proven its performance capabilities in combat since October 2022, underlining its qualities for further applications, such as becoming part of the emerging European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI). Greece has officially applied to become a further partner nation in ESSI besides Germany and other European nations.