Diehl Defence welcomes Bulgaria in the IRIS-T SLM user family

With Bulgaria, the IRIS-T user family has increased to 20 countries, of which 9 nations have IRIS-T air defence solutions in use or opted for them. The procurement of the system not only represents an important milestone for Bulgarian air defence, but also further strengthens the 'European Sky Shield Initiative' and thus contributes to a comprehensive air defence for Europe and NATO. With further optional IRIS-T SLM and SLX units, the procurement represents a strategically important and at the same time forward-looking decision by Bulgaria for the international cooperation within ESSI.

The contract was signed on September 7th on the premises of the BAAINBw in Koblenz. Already last Thursday, Diehl Defence CEO Helmut RauchHelmut Rauch met the Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, Minister of Defence Atanas Zapryanov and the German Ambassador to Bulgaria, Irene Maria PlankIrene Maria Plank, to discuss the outstanding cooperation in ESSI and the way forward.

We would like to thank our new Bulgarian customer for the very constructive and fast process, as well as BAAINBw and the German Federal Ministry of Defence for the excellent support throughout the entire ESSI procurement process.