As Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko today announced on his Telegram channel, he has received information that Ukrainian Air Force technicians responsible for maintaining the IRIS-T SLM fire units supplied by Germany are to be transferred to the infantry.
Such orders were already received. What at first sounds like a bad joke could well be the truth.
After all, technicians from the 114th Tactical Aviation Brigade, which are responsible for maintaining MiG-29 fighter jets, made the same accusations in a public video statement already last week.
The General Staff of Ukraine later commented on the allegations and confirmed them at least partially, saying the transfer of Air Force personnel to the Ground Forces is a necessary step due to the shortage of manpower.
However, it is necessary to note that the transfer of personnel trained abroad on air defence systems and other equipment supplied by the West — which of course includes personnel trained on IRIS-T SLM in Germany — was prohibited.
Regarding the prohibition, The Kyiv Independent quotes the Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi from an interview published on the 19th of January as saying that this personnel is “practically irreplaceable”.
To be honest, I can only agree. IRIS-T SLM is a state-of-the-art and highly effective air defence system that has played an important role not only for the Ukrainian capital but also for other regions of Ukraine since 2022, in particular in intercepting Russian cruise missiles.
If trained personnel are now reassigned to other roles in the infantry, this could potentially have a serious impact on the readiness of the in total six German-delivered IRIS-T SLM fire units, which also include a total of ten additional IRIS-T SLS launchers.
A further three IRIS-T SLM fire units with an additional six IRIS-T SLS launchers will be delivered later this year, so I would be astonished if some of the essential personnel were to be withdrawn and deployed in the infantry.
Nevertheless, the accusation has been made and in my eyes it weighs heavily. After all, it would surprise me if only personnel trained on IRIS-T SLM were considered, should the allegations turned out to be true.
It would then be quite possible that personnel working on NASAMS or MIM-104 Patriot, for example, are also affected. I therefore hope for a statement from the General Staff of Ukraine or from Syrskyi directly as soon as possible.
Until then, however, it is important to bear in mind that this is only an accusation at the current point in time, which has not yet been made publicly by the personnel involved or commented on by official authorities.
I’ll, of course, monitor the situation and continue to provide information about what is happening on my official social media channels.
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