The Austrian government is preparing to reach an agreement with Germany for the purchase of eight squadrons of the Iris-T medium-range air defence system.

According to the Austrian Defence Minister, Claudia Tanner, the squadrons will be part of the “European Sky Shield” system. The acquisition of the launchers and missiles, and the training of the members of the Austrian Army, who will operate these squadrons, will be done by the German Armed Forces, the Austrian Defence Minister underlined.

As Claudia Tanner reports, in the autumn Austria and Germany will sign a preliminary purchase agreement.

It is noted that on Monday the Defence Ministers of Estonia and Latvia signed a framework agreement for the purchase of squadrons, produced by the German industry Diehl Defence.

Also read: Hellenic Defence Systems – Diehl Defence | Sign memorandum of cooperation for the IRIS-T GBAD air defence systems

According to Austria’s Chief of Air Force Staff, Gerfried Proberger, the purchase of four short-range and another four medium-range squadrons is planned.

Vienna considers military reinforcement absolutely necessary after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, despite Austria maintaining a more neutral stance.

However, the Austrian government plans to participate in the purchase of long-range systems, such as the US-Israeli-manufactured Arrow 3 which Germany is preparing to buy, as reported by the country’s Defence Minister.

Also read: Arrow-3 | Israel and Germany sign major deal on state-of-the-art anti-missile system