iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Starmer faces an investigation after 'neglecting to disclose' that Labour donor Alli covered the cost of a personal shopper, clothes and alterations
KT APPDOWNLOAD
German army activates air-defence system citing Russia threat
Chancellor Olaf Scholz says the surface-to-air system was part of a build-up of German and European defences launched after Putin launched attack onn Ukraine 2022
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks as he takes part in the commissioning of the IRIS-T SLM air defence system at the German army Bundeswehr barracks Todendorf in Panker, Germany, on Wednesday. REUTERS
Germany's military put a first Iris-T air-defence system into service on its own soil on Wednesday having delivered several of them to war-torn Ukraine to intercept Russian rockets, drones and missiles.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the surface-to-air system was part of a build-up of German and European defences launched after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the Ukraine attack in 2022.
"Russia has been massively rearming for many years, especially in the field of rockets and cruise missiles," Scholz said at the inauguration ceremony at a base in Todendorf near the northern city of Hamburg.
Putin had broken disarmament treaties and "deployed missiles as far as Kaliningrad", a Russian exclave located some 530 km from Berlin, he added.
"It would be negligent not to respond to this appropriately," the chancellor said. "A failure to act would put peace at risk. I will not allow that."
Scholz, who was joined by Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, said the system was part of the European Sky Shield Initiative, which also includes long-range defences against ballistic missiles.
The German military has ordered six of the Iris-T SLM systems at a total cost of 950 million euros ($1 million) from manufacturer Diehl Defence, to be delivered by May 2027.
Germany, the second-largest contributor of military aid to Ukraine after the United States, has already supplied four Iris-T SLM systems to Ukraine and pledged another eight.
Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov was visiting Germany on Wednesday, a day after a Russian missile attack killed at least 51 people in the Ukrainian city of Poltava, one of the single deadliest bombardments of the war.
The Iris-T systems sent to Ukraine feature truck-mounted launchers that fire missiles to intercept aerial threats at a range of up to 40 kilometres (25 miles).
Scholz said that "in Ukraine, Iris-T has shot down over 250 rockets, drones and cruise missiles to date and saved countless lives".
The German leader said that Europe, aside from defensive systems, would also need more precision missiles of its own "so that there is no dangerous gap with Russia in this strategically important field".
In July, Washington and Berlin announced that the "episodic deployments" of long-range US missiles, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, to Germany would begin in 2026.
Scholz stressed that "our sole concern is to deter potential attackers. Every attack on us must mean a risk for the attacker. Our concern is to secure peace here and prevent war, and nothing else."
bur/fz/fec/jj
More news from World
China says Manila's actions infringe on its sovereignty
In the Czech Republic, a quarter of a million homes were without power due to high winds and rain
US-educated Jaafar Hassan, now head of King Abdullah's office and a former planning minister, is expected to replace Khasawneh
The group called on RSF and SAF to take action against 'perpetrators of war crimes and violations of international law, including international humanitarian law'
Loud booms were also heard in the region, which the military said came from missile interceptors that had been launched
The blast occurred as the victims were trying to retrieve fuel that was leaking from the truck
MWL Secretary General stressed the need for unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians by opening all crossings