  The Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN covers one of the most interesting
regions of the phase diagram (T - \mu_{B}) of strongly interacting matter. The
study of central Pb+Pb collisions by NA49 indicate that the threshold for
deconfinement is reached already at the low SPS energies. Theoretical
considerations predict a critical point of strongly interacting matter at
energies accessible at the SPS. The NA61/SHINE experiment, a successor of the
NA49 project, will study hadron production in p+p, p+A, h+A, and A+A reactions
at various energies. The broad physics program includes the investigation of
the properties of strongly interacting matter, as well as precision
measurements of hadron spectra for the T2K neutrino experiment and for the
Pierre Auger Observatory and KASCADE cosmic-ray projects. The main physics
goals of the NA61/SHINE ion program are to study the properties of the onset of
deconfinement at low SPS energies and to find signatures of the critical point
of strongly interacting matter. To achieve these goals a broad range in the (T
- \mu_{B}) phase diagram will be covered by performing an energy (10A-158A
GeV/c) and system size (p+p, B+C, Ar+Ca, Xe+La) scan. The first data for this
2-D scan were taken in 2009, i.e. p+p interactions at 20, 30, 40, 80, 158 GeV/c
beam energy. This contribution will summarize physics arguments for the
NA61/SHINE ion program, show the detector performance and present the current
status of the experiment and plans for the next years.
