BAAINBw Contracts Diehl to Adapt IRIS-T SLM for Four F125 Frigates — Prototypes, Test Firings, Class Integration
Überlingen, 2 October 2026
Key points
- The Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) has signed a contract with Diehl Defence for adaptation development of the IRIS-T SLM ground-based air-defence system, to make it mission-capable on the navy's four F125 frigates, Diehl said on 2 October; the scope covers prototypes, "comprehensive test firings" and integration into the class's architecture
- The Bundestag budget committee approved the project on 23 September among twelve 25-million submissions; the ministry said the ships are to carry the IRIS-T SLM missile, "which has also proven itself in Ukraine's defensive fight against Russia" (translated)
- Diehl published neither value nor schedule. Plans shown in June put two launchers of 16 missiles on each ship, with a prototype launcher and a first firing in 2027
- The work builds on a navalised demonstrator Diehl built in under ten months and integrated on the Baden-Württemberg, which met all of its test and evaluation objectives in October 2025
Nine days after the budget committee approved it, the F125 class has a contract for the medium-range air defence it was built without.
The F125s were designed for long stabilisation deployments, and their air defence is close-in: RAM launchers and guns. The adaptation takes the land-based IRIS-T SLM, the system the Luftwaffe buys and Ukraine fields, and puts it on a deck, with the integration into the ships' combat systems that implies. Diehl's at-sea demonstrator was the proof of concept; the contract buys the prototypes and firings that lead to a fit for all four ships.
It is the second weapon the class has gained by deck addition this autumn. On 2 September the Sachsen-Anhalt fired two Israeli LORA ballistic missiles from canisters set on her flight deck.
The F125 is being armed after delivery, one weapon at a time and from the deck rather than a vertical-launch silo, which is quick and cheap and caps the ships' magazine at what the deck will hold. Two launchers of 16 would give each frigate 32 missiles where it now has no area air-defence missile at all: a real gain, sized by space on board rather than by a stated requirement. A prototype launcher in 2027 is the date to hold it to. The approval itself is in Großwald's account of the twelve submissions; Signal No. 159 recorded the contract.
Related · Arming the F125
