Military Expert: Ukraine's Drone Warfare Makes IRIS-T Missiles Impractical

MOSCOW, September 3. /TASS/. Current conditions of combat operations with the use of drones make it impractical for Ukraine to use IRIS-T missiles, which cost about €400,000, Alexander Stepanov, a military expert at the Institute of Law and National Security at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), told TASS.

Earlier, the N-tv channel, citing sources in the German government, reported that the German government plans to provide Kiev with additional missiles for the IRIS-T air defense systems in September.

"One such missile costs about €400,000. This is significantly less than the cost of Patriot missiles, but they are nonetheless quite expensive. Given the tactics of combining various types of drones, including decoy drones, their consumption would be unjustified from the standpoint of military economics," Stepanov said.

In addition, he noted the cost of the IRIS-T systems themselves. "A battery of six launchers costs nearly €1 billion. De facto, this battery can protect a fairly limited area and will most likely be prioritized for defending the Kiev Region," the expert noted.

"It turns out that such an expensive system will not be the solution capable of protecting the entire airspace of the territories controlled by the Kiev regime," he concluded.

IRIS-T missiles are manufactured by Diehl BGT Defence for the armed forces of Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Norway, and Sweden. They can be deployed either as ground-based anti-aircraft guided missiles or as air-launched missiles for European Eurofighter Typhoon fighters, American F-16s, and Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighters.