Lithuania Needs More NASAMS

Lithuania's Ministry of National Defence has signed a €193 million contract with Kongsberg to expand and upgrade its NASAMS air-defence systems.

As per a company press statement the new deal announced this week will involve both the supply of new systems and upgrades to its existing NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) capabilities.

Eirik Lie, President of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, commented: "Kongsberg sees increased demand from existing NASAMS users to upgrade and expand their NASAMS assets. The NASAMS system is an important defence capacity given the geopolitical situation in the world. The contract with Lithuania also strengthens the country's partnership with NATO."

The National (or Norwegian) Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) is an air-defence system jointly developed by Raytheon and Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace. It's designed to provide protection against manned threats such as fighter aircraft and helicopters, as well as missiles and uncrewed aerial systems (UAS).

When first deployed in 2007 it was the first system to adapt the use of AIM-120 AMRAAMs (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile) to a ground-based system; there have since been two upgrades. The latest iteration, NASAMS 3, can also fire AIM-9X Sidewinder projectiles.

Versions of NASAMS are currently in use by 13 countries globally, according to Kongsberg's website. It states: "NASAMS is in operational use in Norway, Spain, USA, the Netherlands, Finland, Oman, Lithuania, Indonesia and one undisclosed customer. The system is in production for Australia, Qatar, Hungary and Ukraine... In addition Poland, Greece and Turkey operate the KONGSBERG Command and Control solution for various weapon systems."

A statement on the website of Lithuania's Ministry of National Defence said increased funding had meant it was able to accelerate its NASAMS procurement plan by seven years.

It added: "Phase 3 of the NASAMS projects will encompass acquisition of launchers, radars and fire distribution centers, as well as vital upgrades of the NASAMS already in the Lithuanian Armed Forces which have been developed on the basis of lessons learned on the battlefield in Ukraine and the needs of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.

"Norway has agreed to... [supply] to Lithuania some missiles for the NASAMS system."

• You can read more details on the Kongsberg website