Defense News:

German contractors Rheinmetall, Hensoldt, and Diehl Defence have teamed up to bid on the country’s envisioned short-range, air-defense program, the companies said on Tuesday.

The announcement comes days after defense officials in Berlin announced they had shelved a more comprehensive defensive system against sophisticated ballistic missiles, dubbed TLVS for short, in favor of counter-drone and anti-aircraft weapons at closer ranges.

The German military’s planned lower-tier defense system –abbreviated as LVS NNbS– is meant to intercept aircraft, combat helicopters and cruise missiles. It features Diehl’s Iris-T SL-M missile to be fired out of truck-mounted, vertical launchers, the same type that was eyed as a lower-cost option to the Lockheed Martin interceptor in TLVS, according to a Diehl spokesman.

Also included in the three companies’ offer is a Hensoldt tracking radar, mounted on a separate truck, and a notional armored vehicle that can shoot an air-to-air variant of the Iris-T missile while on the move, the spokesman explained…

Click here to read the full article.