Diehl Defence and POLARIS Sign Cooperation Agreement

CEO Diehl Defence, Helmut Rauch and CEO POLARIS Raumflugzeuge GmbH, Dr Alexander Kopp signed an exclusive cooperation agreement at Paris Air Show. Both companies are jointly pursuing innovative approaches for new airborne defence systems.

The aim of the agreement is to equip POLARIS’ unmanned aerial carrier systems with effectors from Diehl Defence. The IRIS-T air-to-air guided missile is to be integrated on an unmanned POLARIS carrier system. The resulting ‘Airborne Launching and Attack System’ (AirLAS) creates a new dynamic and provides the armed forces with a full-scale expansion of capabilities. The success factors of this AirLAS approach are its extended range and the greatly increased effective range. First flight tests are planned for this year.

The combination of a flight-proven and reusable carrier system with the outstanding capabilities of the combat-proven guided missile IRIS-T creates a cost-effective, multi-domain operation capable solution that meets the current challenges of ground-based air defence with an innovative concept. Embedding in the Future Combat Air System or a maritime environment is also possible.

AirLAS, with its high potential for future applications, including the possible use in long-range hypersonic systems, will be the basis for innovative solutions from Diehl Defence and POLARIS.