In response to requests by Ukrainian forces, the U.S. Government announced the purchase of two NASAMS systems for Ukraine in July 2022, “to defend against cruise missiles and aircraft.” This procurement would take several months to finalize and will require extensive training for Ukrainian users. NASAMS air defense systems through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative or USAI. Training, equipment, and advising activities have been included in USAI packages to improve Ukraine’s defensive capabilities, operational safety, and capacity of Ukrainian Air Force facilities, as well as its lethality, command, and control, and survivability. , NASAMS II will allow it to intercept weapons systems, aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, and drones with Soviet or Russian designs.
At the moment, there is no official information on when the procedure for the purchase of NASAMS is expected to be completed, and when Ukraine will receive them. The first batch will be two batteries, which is 12 mobile launchers, which each has six surface-to-air missile (SAM). Subsequently, in August 2022 the U.S. Government announced it would buy an additional 6 NASAMS units as part of nearly $3B in military aid “to provide additional priority capabilities to Ukraine in the mid- and long-term”. The NASMAS system the same one that protects Washington, DC, and the area around the nation’s capital. NASAMS has proven interoperability with longer range systems such as Patriot.
NASAMS (National/Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile system) is a distributed and networked short- to medium-range?ground-based air defense system developed by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) and Raytheon.[6] The system defends against unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), helicopters, cruise missiles, unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), and aircraft. NASAMS was the first application of a surface-launched AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile). NASAMS 2 is an upgraded version of the system capable of using Link 16, which has been operational since 2007. As of 2022 NASAMS 3 adds capability to fire AIM-9 Sidewinder and IRIS-T SLS short-range missiles and AMRAAM-ER extended-range missiles, and introduces mobile air-liftable launchers.
NASAMS has been exported to the United States, with the NASAMS 2 upgrade having been exported to Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Oman, and Chile. There were 12 official operators as of 2020. Kongsberg stated: “NASAMS is in operational use in Norway, Spain, USA, the Netherlands, Finland and one undisclosed customer. The system is in production for Oman, Lithuania, Australia, Hungary and Qatar. NASAMS is in use with both Armies and Air Forces around the world. In addition Poland, Greece, Sweden and Turkey operate the Konsberg Command and Control solution for various weapon systems.” NASAMS can be integrated into vehicles and thus from a ground-based to become a mobile system for difficult terrain.
