Estonia and Latvia on Monday signed a joint deal worth around 1 billion euros (US$1.1 billion) for an Iris-T SLM medium-range air defense system from German manufacturer Diehl.
“This is by far the biggest defenae investment in Estonian history. Together with Latvia, almost 1 billion for their company is something we don’t see every day,” Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur told reporters.
“Russia’s barbaric war in Ukraine has shown that air defense is critical to protect armed forces and critical infrastructure from air attacks,” he added in a statement.
“I’m very happy that our partners, Estonia and Latvia, have decided to procure the IRIS-T SLM. This will, without any doubt, strengthen European air defense,” German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in Rothenbach.
Led by Germany, 19 European nations including Britain, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Sweden have banded together on the ground-based air defense under the ESSI project.
The Sky Shield system would involve joint procurement for short-, medium-, and long-range systems, including the German-made Iris-T, the American Patriot, and the US-Israeli Arrow-3 missiles.
