Raytheon Australia has been awarded an $84.5m (A$111m) sustainment contract by the Australian Department of Defence for the national advanced surface to air missile system (NASAMS). Raytheon Australia has been awarded an $84.5m (A$111m) sustainment contract by the Australian Department of Defence for the national advanced surface to air missile system (NASAMS). The system can be deployed to destroy aircraft, missiles and drone, as well as protect high-value assets and mass population centres against air-to-surface threats. The latest contract will provide the initial five years of sustainment, with an option to extend the contract to the full 20 years. The new contract was part of the Australian Government’s ten-year $270bn boost to the defence industry.
The system has been jointly developed by Raytheon and Kongsberg and entered service with the Australian Army in 2023. It will support the new short-range ground-based air defence (GAD) capability under the Land 19 Phase 7B programme. Meanwhile, Raytheon announced the official opening of the new ‘Centre for Joint Integration’ in Mawson Lakes, South Australia (SA). The new centre was opened by Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The new centre will also serve as the primary support facility for the new air defence capability over its 20-year life. The Australian firm expects to provide ongoing employment opportunity for some 35 staff in support of the short-range GBAD capability.
The National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) is a medium-range, network-centric air defence system designed and developed jointly by Raytheon and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, primarily for the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF). The Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) teamed up with Raytheon and initiated the NASAMS programme as a cooperative effort for the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF). The network-centric air defence system NASAMS was declared fully operational capable in 1998 but had an initial operational capability as early as in 1994/95. NASAMS was the first surface-based application for the AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile).
Raytheon and Kongsberg entered into a ten-year agreement in June 2015 to expand their partnership on NASAMS until 2025. NASAMS II, an upgraded version of the NASAMS, uses new radars and 12 missile launchers for quicker identification and destruction of the targets. The upgraded system has been in service since 2007 and ordered by a number of countries, including Norway, Finland and the Netherlands. A complete NASAMS (2) battery consists of 12 missile launchers (LCHR) (each one carrying six AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles), eight radars (AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel F1 Improved Sentinel X band 3D radar), one fire control centre (CTOC), one electro-optical camera vehicle (MSP500) and one Tactical Control Cell (TCC) vehicle.
