Helmut Rauch, CEO of Diehl Defence, and Chandra Marshall, Vice President at Lockheed Martin, signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the Berlin Security Conference, agreeing to work together on the possibility of integrating the IRIS-T SLM missile family into the AEGIS weapon system and the MK41 vertical launch system.

Looking ahead, Diehl and Lockheed Martin are also considering future opportunities related to HYDEF, the European anti-hypersonic weapon system programme currently under development. With Diehl in a leadership role, HYDEF brings together several European countries that are already established MK41 users, including Germany, Belgium, Spain, Norway and Poland. For now, however, the immediate focus remains on IRIS-T SLM, especially after the recent launch trial in which a land-based launcher was bolted onto the upper deck of an F-125 frigate using a dedicated mount with appropriate exhaust vent. Building on the successful results, Diehl estimates that a full integration into MK41 could be achieved within 10 months.

Opportunities would then open both in Germany and abroad. The German Navy intends to fit IRIS-T onto the F-125 frigates, which however are fitted-for, but-not-with MK41 at present.

The future F-127 air defence ship represents another big opportunity, which could also extend to the F-126 (or whatever ends up replacing the troubled ASW frigate programme, which remains on the verge of cancellation/major restructuring).

The MK41 integration could also easily expand to the “land MK41”, the containerized MK70 launcher employed by the TYPHON medium range missile batteries that Germany already plans to acquire from the US. The portable MK70 is a solution to enable easy embarkation of a missile launching solutions on ships which do not have traditional MK41 cells fitted.

Lockheed Martin and Diehl already enjoy a close cooperation in particular through the PATRIOT program.

Lockheed Martin notes that a full AEGIS integration would represent the first time a European missile has been integrated into the American combat system. As for MK41 itself, the MBDA CAMM is a precedent, while the UK also plans to integrate MBDA’s FC/ASW (Future Cruise and Anti Ship Weapon) into MK41.

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