On June 19 the NASAMS 3 (National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) medium-range air defence systems procured from Norway were delivered to the Air Defence Battalion of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. The modern air defence equipment will provide the Lithuanian Air Force with a several tens of kilometres effective range capability. Lithuania has acquired the most recent, their generation, NASAMS 3, its current users are still only the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of Norway, the manufacturer. Lithuania also upgraded the RBS70 short-range air defence systems it has been using, both systems will be integrated to form an overall Lithuanian airspace defence shield.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Defence had announced plans to acquire Boxer infantry fighting vehicles, PzH2000 self-propelled howitzers, and Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile Systems by 2021. The programs were included in the “Lithuanian Defence System: Facts and Trends 2017” document, a strategic report released by the Defence Ministry on March 9. Under the plan, the three procurements are to enable the Lithuanian Armed Forces with “greater mobility, force protection and firepower,” “efficient fire support,” and a “robust and proven air defense system,” respectively. The report states that more than U.S. $2.6 billion are to be allocated to the country’s military modernization program in the years 2017 to 2022.
NASAMS (National/Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) is a distributed and networked medium to long range air-defence system. NASAMS was the first surface-based application for the AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile). NASAMS 2 is an upgraded version of the NASAMS air-defence system and it has been operational since 2007. The Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace teamed up with Raytheon and initiated the NASAMS programme as a cooperative effort for the Royal Norwegian Air Force. A complete NASAMS battery consists of 12 AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles launchers, eight radars, one fire control centre, one electro-optical camera vehicle and one Tactical Control Cell vehicle.
NASAMS has been exported to the United States, with the NASAMS 2 upgrade having been exported to Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Oman, and Chile. Several NASAMS were used to guard air space over Washington, D.C. during the 2005 United States presidential inauguration, and are used to protect air space around the White House. NASAMS is in operational use in Norway, Spain, USA, the Netherlands, Finland and one undisclosed customer. The system is in production for Oman, Lithuania, Indonesia, Australia and Qatar. NASAMS is in use with both Armies and Air Forces around the world. In addition Poland, Greece, Sweden and Turkey operate the KONGSBERG Command and Control solution for various weapon systems.
