Diehl Defense and POLARIS create a new AirLAS attack UAV system based on IRIS-T missiles

Germany to equip hypersonic spaceplane with rockets

As part of the Paris Air Show 2025, two leading German companies — Diehl Defense and POLARIS Raumflugzeuge GmbH — signed an exclusive agreement to develop an innovative unmanned aerial attack platform. The aim of the collaboration was to create a system combining the combat-proven IRIS-T missile and a reusable unmanned aerial vehicle from POLARIS.

The new program is called the Airborne Launching and Attack System (AirLAS). Its main task is to expand the operational capabilities of modern air defense systems and provide high flexibility in responding to aerial threats.

According to a joint statement, Helmut Rauch, CEO of Diehl Defense, and Dr. Alexander Kopp, CEO of POLARIS, noted that the project combines the advanced technologies of the two companies to create a new generation of shock systems.

The POLARIS drone will be modified to carry and launch IRIS-T missiles, known for their high maneuverability and ability to hit targets from any angle. Such integration will allow the UAV to be used as a mobile and autonomous platform for delivering pinpoint strikes against air targets beyond the reach of ground-based air defense systems.

Main features of the AirLAS system:

- Increased range of action: due to the aerial launch of the missile, the affected area is significantly expanded;

- Mobility and stealth: the drone can operate independently or as part of a group;

- Integration with existing systems: AirLAS can be adapted to current and future air defense architectures;

- Reusable: reducing the cost of operations and increasing efficiency;

- High combat effectiveness: the use of air-to-air missiles of the latest generation.

This project marks an important step in the development of the European defense industry, aimed at creating technologically independent solutions in the face of growing threats and tensions in Europe and other regions.

It is expected that the first flight tests of AirLAS will begin in the coming years, and mass production will start by the end of the decade. If all goes according to plan, the system will become a key element of future multi-layered air and missile defense systems.

Russia has developed the high-altitude aviation cruise missile X-69

Multifunctional low-visibility high-altitude aviation cruise missile of the new generation X-69

It was created in the GosMKB Raduga named after A.Ya. Bereznyak. It is designed to destroy a wide range of ground-based stationary targets with known location coordinates before launch and with previously known information signs of the target area.The rocket has a close to square cross-section. This, firstly, facilitates its placement in the internal armament compartments of fifth-generation fighters, and secondly, the fuselage of this type, combined with other design features, reduces the radar visibility of the missile. The fuselage is 4.19 m long, the width and height with folded wing and tail consoles are 40 cm, and the wingspan is 2.45 m.

The X-69 rocket is equipped with a combined navigation and automatic control system (SNAU) based on a free-form inertial system (BINS), integrated with consumer navigation equipment (NAP) of information from commercial satellite navigation systems (SNS) GLONASS and GPS NAVSTAR, as well as with an integrated radio-technical altitude and speed meter (FARC) and opticalelectronic system (OE-M). A four-channel electromechanical steering gear is used as an executive element of the SNAU.The mainline dual-circuit turbojet engine accelerates the X-69 to 700-1000 km/h. The maximum flight range is 290 km, the height above the earth's surface, depending on the terrain, is 50-300 m.The X-69 missile can be part of the onboard means of destruction of Su-57 fighters, as well as placed on the external suspension of generation 4++ and 4+ Su-35, Su-30MK, Su-34, MiG-35, MiG-29K and others aircraft.

Specifications:

- Launch range, km: 290

- Flight speed, number of M (km/h): 0.8 (1000)

- Type of warhead: penetrating or cluster

- Mass of the warhead, kg: 310 or 300

- Guidance system: a free-of-charge integrated system with the consumer's navigation system + satellite navigation system + optoelectronic final guidance system OE-M

- Launch weight of the rocket, kg: up to 770

- Length x width x height x wingspan of the rocket, m: 4.19 x 0.4 x 0.4 x 2.45

Russia's use of a new type of subsonic X-69 air-to-surface cruise missile has raised fears in Kiev and the West that the Russian Aerospace Forces have acquired weapons even "more dangerous" than the Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missile. It was the X-69 that was used by the Russian military for strikes that destroyed the transformer, turbines and generators of the Tripoli thermal power plant near the Ukrainian capital, military analysts at the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) concluded.A special "danger" in terms of consequences for the Ukrainian side is the fact that the X-69 is very difficult to detect with air defense systems, since the missile is capable of maintaining an altitude of only about 20 meters when following the target.

Chrysanthemum-S at the Army-2024 Forum

 

Chrysanthemum-S

The 9P157-2 combat vehicle of the 9K123-1 Chrysanthemum-S anti-tank missile system at the Army-2024 forum.

The Chrysanthemum self-propelled anti-tank complex is capable of hitting with high efficiency day and night, in any weather conditions and in any combat situation at a range of up to 6000 m all modern and promising tanks equipped with dynamic protection, any types of defensive structures, manpower, low-tonnage ships and boats, helicopters and low-speed, low-flying aircraft. 

▪️The complex includes: 

- combat vehicle 9P157-2, 

- A 9M123M missile with a cumulative tandem warhead, 

- A 9M123MF rocket with a high-explosive warhead, 

- means of technical control of combat vehicles and missiles, 

- educational and training facilities. 

The combat vehicle has two missile control channels: in automatic mode using radar guidance and semi - automatic mode with guided missiles in a laser beam . 

To defeat targets in both control channels, a single missile with two types of warhead is used: with a tandem cumulative warhead (with armor penetration up to 1200 mm behind dynamic protection) and a powerful high-explosive warhead.