Rheinmetall, Diehl, and Hensoldt working group submits BAFO for Bundes…

The Rheinmetall-Diehl-Hensoldt ARGE NNbS working group is offering FlaRakPz (left) and fire control (right) versions of the Boxer armoured vehicle for the Bundeswehr's mobile air defence. (ARGE NNbS)

The Rheinmetall Electronics, Diehl Defence, and Hensoldt Sensors Arbeitsgemeinschaft (ARGE) Nah- und Nächstbereichsschutz (NNbS) short- and very short-range air defence (V/SHORAD) working group submitted its best and final offer (BAFO) to the Bundeswehr on 9 August, Oliver Hoffmann, Rheinmetall's head of press and public relations, announced during a briefing for German-speaking defence journalists in Bonn on 24 August.

Rheinmetall's Andree Hornhardt, speaker for the ARGE NNbS operational management, said the working group's BAFO includes improvements in various areas since its solution was last presented to German-speaking journalists in October 2022. Improvements to the IRIS-T SLM (Surface Launched Medium Range) ground-based air-defence (GBAD) system, which is being used by Ukraine and six of which are being procured by Germany, include installation of military Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Streitkräftegemeinsame Verbundfähige Funkgeräte-Ausstattung (SVFuA) joint radio system, adaptation to information technology (IT) security, and logistics optimisation. In addition, the GBAD's TRML-4D radar's target set has been expanded, its encryption has been improved, and a weapon location function has been added. The 360° IRIS-T SLM system has eight missiles with a range of 40 km at a ceiling up to 20 km, and the TRML-4D has a 250 km range with its own weapon tracking and identification friend-or-foe (IFF) Mode 5 system.