KONGSBERG has signed a contract with Raytheon for deliveries of the NASAMS air defence system to Kuwait through the US Foreign Military Sales programme. The programme has a value for KONGSBERG of about USD 400 million. NASAMS will form an integrated part of Kuwait’s layered air defence architecture, spanning short-range to long-range air defence, and will strengthen the country’s ability to protect its population, critical infrastructure and strategic assets against a wide range of aerial threats. The NASAMS system consists of system elements from both Raytheon and KONGSBERG. NASAMS’ modularity and open architecture enable the continuous introduction of new technology, which ensures that the system can adapt to new threats and missions throughout its lifetime.
“The acquisition will help address Kuwait’s urgent operational need for modern, flexible and combat-proven air defence. It underscores NASAMS’ role as one of the world’s most widely deployed and operational medium-range air defence systems,” said Kjetil Reiten Myhra, President Defence Systems at KONGSBERG.
NASAMS is a short- to medium-range ground-based air defense system developed by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) and Corporation. The system defends against unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), helicopters, cruise missiles, unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), and fixed wing aircraft, firing any of a wide range of existing missiles. 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 is the latest upgrade. Deployed in 2019, it adds capability to fire AIM-9X Sidewinder and AMRAAM-ER missiles, and introduces mobile air-liftable launchers. NASAMS has proven interoperability with longer range systems such as Patriot.
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) is one of three business units of Kongsberg Gruppen (KONGSBERG) of Norway and a supplier of defence and space related systems and products, mainly anti-ship missiles, military communications, and command and weapons control systems for naval vessels and air-defence applications. Today, the company is probably best known abroad for its development/industrialisation and production of the first passive IR homing anti-ship missile of the western world, the Penguin, starting delivery in the early 1970s (when Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace was part of KONGSBERG’s predecessor Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk).
