Germany Moves To Upgrade F125 Frigates With Naval IRIS-T SLM Missile Systems

BAAINBw, Germany’s procurement office, signed a contract on October 2, 2026, with Diehl Defence to adapt the IRIS-T SLM, a surface-to-air missile system for the German Navy’s four Baden-Württemberg-class (F125) frigates.

The German parliament’s budget committee approved the deal directly on September 23, 2026. According to the Federal Ministry of Defence, the upgrade addresses growing air threats, referencing the missile system’s operational success in Ukraine

When originally commissioned, the 7,200-ton F125 frigates lacked medium- or long-range air defense capabilities, relying only on short-range anti-ship missiles and RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM).

This gap in air protection was highlighted in 2024, when the Baden-Württemberg frigate, during its return from the Indo-Pacific, sailed through Africa—detouring— instead of sailing through the Red Sea.

Under the new adaptation plan, each of the four F125 frigates (Baden-Württemberg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Sachsen-Anhalt, and Rheinland-Pfalz) will be equipped with two deck-mounted launchers.

The shipboard system will complement a total of 32 IRIS-T SLM missiles per vessel, which means 16 launchers per frigate. And lastly, the system will offer an interception range of up to 40 km and an operational altitude reaching 20 km.

Modular testing and next steps

Diehl Defence will conduct live-firing tests and manufacture prototypes to integrate the hardware and software into the ships’ already existing architecture.

During the initial tests held in October 2025 off Norway, the German Navy’s Maritime Firing Exercise, Diehl installed a navalized IRIS-T SLM module on the C-deck of the Baden-Württemberg frigate, successfully engaging multiple targets using ship-supplied radar data, which further fortified the decision for upgradation.

The launchers will be mounted directly on the deck, bypassing the below-deck vertical launching system (VLS), and will be cost-efficient, as it will avoid the costly structure required in the traditional VLS, providing a faster and efficient pathway to integration.