German arms maker Diehl Defense is looking to significantly increase production of its IRIS-T air defense system to meet rising demand due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, program director Harald Bushek said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The private company plans to build at least eight systems in 2025, up from three to four this year, he told reporters at Todendorf Air Base in northern Germany.

He added that missile production has tripled this year and will double next year, with production expected to reach around 400-500 missiles starting in 2024.

Currently, Germany has delivered two IRIS-T installations to Ukraine, where they are mainly used to protect Kyiv from Russian missile attacks.

Bushek said Ukraine had shot down more than 110 targets in Ukraine with a nearly 100 percent success rate, most of which were cruise missiles like the Caliber.

A month ago, Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that he had received a report on the effectiveness of the Iris-T and Patriot systems from the West.

“I am grateful to every country, every leader who helped us with them! These are powerful, highly efficient systems… There are already significant results. And not only for Ukraine. Because every destruction of Russian missiles in our sky, especially the Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, which Russian terrorists have been boasting about for a long time… Every success of our soldiers is an assurance to the world that a terrorist state is not capable of undermining common security,” he said the Ukrainian president.

In total, Germany promised Ukraine 8 IRIS-T systems. One was damaged in June by a Russian Lancet drone attack that targeted the system’s mobile radar, according to a video that appeared on social media at the time.

• Also read the VIDEO. Rare footage of the Russian military strike on the Ukrainian IRIS-T decoy