The latest German-made IRIS-T air defense system should arrive in Ukraine this year, Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk said in an interview with NV. According to him, there is already confirmation from Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The IRIS-T air defense system can protect an area about the size of Kyiv.

According to Melnyk, the first funds from the 1 billion euros in the German budget to help Ukraine should go specifically to the IRIS-T missile system.. On June 1, Scholz confirmed his agreement to supply.

“The IRIS-T system is the only thing I thanked both the chancellor and the government for in recent months. We have been working on it since the first days of the war.. This system is the coolest in the world. It can be compared with the American Patriot. This is a German product,” Melnik said..

The ambassador explained that the delivery time is long, because these air defense systems for Ukraine are still being produced.

“That is, it will be a purchase from a German manufacturer of the weapons we need, the parameters of which we have determined. Production will end at the end of the summer. Then - training. Delivery - in October,"

The characteristic of IRIS-T allows it to protect an area approximately the same area as Kyiv. According to the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, within three to four years, Ukraine will be able to put such air defense around cities and the most strategic objects..

“The breakthrough is that this is not the first weapon of the old model, but the latest,” Melnik added..

IRIS-T (Infra Red Imaging System Tail / Thrust Vector-Controlled) - infrared homing missiles. There are two versions of IRIS-T surface-to-air missiles for air defense: short-range IRIS-T SLS and medium-range IRIS-T SLM.

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Earlier, Ambassador Melnyk told when Ukraine should receive howitzers and anti-aircraft guns from Germany. Only two solutions out of all announced by Berlin are currently under implementation..