IRIS-T SLS Development began in 2007, with initial test flights in 2009. Series production started in 2014, and the first delivery was made to Sweden in 2019.
IRIS-T SLM After a successful test series in 2015, the German military began its own trials in 2017. Operational readiness was achieved in 2022, and the first delivery to Ukraine occurred in October 2022.
IRIS-T SLX Development began in 2021, with planned introduction starting in 2028.
I’m reading the german wikipedia too and it states these development dates for the SLM and not the SLS. That whole part about the development history talks about the SLM.
I think here lies the problem: The development of the SLM (under the name SL) started before the SLS but the SLS entered service earlier than the SLM (2010 vs 2017), because the development was easier/faster by using the standard missile.
Your right, its a bit confusing. There is a good amount of information about the missile but I think some sources got some specs mixed up. I guess the only thing we should take for granted is the Diehl Defense documents.
IRIS-T SLM began as part of MEADS. It was supposed to be the secondary missile for the TLVS. At that time, it was just called IRIS-T SL. After the TLVS got canned and the shorter range IRIS-T SLS got made, the SL was renamed to SLM.
it does not.
152 is to small. the 152mm claim comes from a very early newspaper article about SLM; it is not accurate. real figure is likely 7 inches or 177.8mm
it is going to be a mighty missile but its far from done.
Egypt is the first customer and theres interest from others as well, including Germany. Do know thought that this model shown here is… well… it does not match the model they showed in some powerpoint slides…
This thing is completely a piece of shit right now, really.
The radar’s refresh rate is too slow to track the position of supersonic targets in real time, causing the missile to always pursue the target’s previous position and fail to activate the infrared guidance seeker. The missile’s maximum speed inexplicably drops from Mach 3 to Mach 2, and in actual combat, it cannot even reach the Mach 2 limit—its speed drops below Mach 1 after flying 10 kilometers. Can a missile with such speed really hit the target? Additionally, the missile’s guidance ratio is too large, wasting its already limited energy on unnecessary pre-judgments. Overall, this missile is even inferior to the VT1. If it appears in the official server in this state, why would I need to obtain it?
I tested the missile again today, and I have to say it’s far too slow. In real life, you wouldn’t even see this missile coming but on the dev server, it’s so slow that it moves almost like the OSA-AK missile. That’s quite disappointing. According to Diehl Defence, the missile should travel at 1,029 meters per second — and that’s exactly what we need. Without that, you launch the missile and can literally watch it fly, while everyone has enough time to turn and escape.
