Norway signs agreement with manufacturers to upgrade NASAMS air defence system
The Norwegian Ministry of Defence has agreed to improve the NASAMS air defence system.
TheNorwegian Ministry of Defence has agreed to cooperate with the US-basedRaytheon and the Norwegian Kongsberg Gruppen to improve the NASAMS air defencemissile system.
DefenceMinister Bjørn Arild Gram said that the country will strengthen and furtherexpand its air defence due to the growing risk of military threats, accordingto the Norwegian governmentwebsite.
"Thewar in Ukraine has demonstrated how important air defence is. We need tostrengthen and further expand our air defence to better protect civilian andmilitary targets from air threats," he said.
Accordingto Gram, the cooperation agreement with Kongsberg and Raytheon lays thefoundation for the further development of the NASAMS air defence system in thecontext of future military threats. Norway will purchase missiles and parts for this air defence system.
NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface to AirMissile System)
A highlymobile anti-aircraft missile system developed by the Norwegian technology groupKongsberg Defence & Aerospac and the US company Raytheon.
The firstgeneration of the system was introduced in 1998, and the latest modification,the NASAMS III, was introduced in 2019.
The systemcan shoot down aircraft, helicopters and cruise missiles, including Iskander orTochka-U. One launcher holds 6 missiles. A battery (9 or 12 units) can fire all54 or 72 missiles in 12 seconds. The battery also includes 3D radars(AN/TPQ-64) from the American company Raytheon, several auxiliary sensors and afire control command post.
The NASAMSsystem operates with AMRAAM guided missiles, which can shoot down targets at adistance of up to 20-25 kilometres, and AMRAAM ER (Extended Range) missileswith a range of up to 40 kilometres. The SAM can also fire missiles and engageaircraft at a distance of over 100 kilometres. The accuracy of targetdestruction is 85%.
The rangeof the NASAMS is smaller than that of the US MIM-104 Patriot (25 km versus90-160 km), so more batteries are needed to cover the same area. At the sametime, NASAMS control can be combined with longer-range air defence systems,including Patriot.
