The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reportedly approved the $1bn acquisition of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System-II (NASAMS-II) from the US.
Built by Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace in collaboration with Raytheon National, the NASAMS-II system will protect the National Capital Region (NCR) from threats such as hostile aircraft, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones.
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The Indian MoD’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the acquisition of NASAMS batteries through the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme early this month, reported Jane’s.
An official source was quoted by The Hindu as saying: “This system will help in preventing 9/11-type attacks on Delhi. It is in the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) stage now.”
According to media reports, India is currently in talks with the US for the procurement of the air defence system.
The acquisition of the new system will reportedly help supplement the two-tier ballistic missile defence (BMD) shield currently being indigenously developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
An upgraded version of the NASAMS system, the NASAMS-II is fitted with 3D surveillance Sentinel radars, fire distribution centres and command-and-control units, in addition to 12 missile launchers for quicker reaction.
In addition to the NASAMS-II acquisition, India is also planning to procure the S-400 Triumph air defence missile system from Russia.
