Diehl Defence will present itself to the international military aviation experts at Paris Air Show 2023 in Le Bourget as a leading exhibitor on the German joint booth (BDLI). Among the company's selected products on display are models of ground-based air defence (GBAD) and drone defence systems, air force armaments as well as guided missiles.
The technologies for these products are part of Diehl Defence's core competencies and have been the reason for the company's success and growth in recent years: The IRIS-T guided missile on display in Paris has been in service with many air forces worldwide on a variety of platforms such as Tornado, Eurofighter, Gripen, F-16, F-18 and F-5. Most recently, the guided missile was successfully fired from the newly developed fighter aircraft KF-21. The further developed IRIS-T SL (surface-launched) is used as missile in GBAD systems such as IRIS-T SLM for medium ranges, which can be seen as a model at the Diehl Defence booth in Le Bourget.
With two combat units delivered, IRIS-T SLM is also part of Ukraine's ground-based air defence. According to customer reports, Diehl Defence's GBAD systems achieve a hit rate of 100 percent under realistic operational conditions.
Diehl Defence is also in negotiations with its long-standing German customer as well as with other nations in Europe about the procurement of GBAD systems as part of current or near-term procurement projects and is an integral part of the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) for the protection of the European airspace. As a leading system house for state-of-the-art air defence systems, Diehl Defence has thus become a fundamental pillar of the European defence industry.
The predicted increase in demand in Diehl Defence's core markets is accompanied by the challenge of increasing deliveries and sales. Diehl Defence is specifically addressing this by taking structural measures and investing in locations, facilities and staff to ensure that it achieves sustainable annual sales of more than one billion euros.
Securing the company's future also involves investing in new products. As part of this, Diehl Defence is exhibiting models of the FCAAM and HYDEF missiles at Le Bourget. FCAAM (Future Combat Air-to-Air Missile) addresses the expected enhanced air combat capabilities as part of the ongoing FCAS project, while the HYDEF concept will be used to defend against hypersonic threats and represents the next stage of the Diehl Defence ground-based air defence.