Hungary has become the sixth NATO member and 12th country to buy the Kongsberg NASAMS surface-to-air missile system. Its version will use Amraam and Amraam-ER missiles and Raytheon’s Sentinel radar, and will enter service in 2023. A contract for the purchase of NASAMS ground-based anti-aircraft missile systems was signed at the Hungarian Ministry of Defence on November 30. The event was a milestone in the acquisition of new military equipment, as NASAMS replaces the Russian KUB missile system, which has been in operation for four decades, so that air defense capabilities can be supplemented with state-of-the-art military equipment to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
The National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, also known as NASAMS solution is comprised of Raytheon Missiles & Defense’s AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) and Sentinel radar, AMRAAM-ER training missiles (CATM-120C)and Kongsberg’s Fire Distribution Center (FDC) and canister launcher. NASAMS offers air defenders the proven effectiveness of the AMRAAM missile which is in the inventory of 39 countries. Sentinel is a proven air defense radar deployed by more than 18 countries and has been evolved to address the C-UAS threat.
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). The system integrates US-built MPQ-64 Sentinel air defense radar and AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles with an indigenously developed Battle management C4I system called FDC, short for Fire Distribution Center. The FDC connected to a MPQ-64 radar forms an “Acquisition Radar and Control System” (ARCS). The missile has a horizontal range of up to 25 km. Other sources cite a range of ‘over 15 km’ but this depends on the missile version used.
