Norway will buy eight Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) launchers and four fire control units from Kongsberg, the manufacturer announced on 24 November, to replace stock deployed to Ukraine earlier in the year.
Norway will also buy new missiles for its air defence vehicles along with three different missiles of 'various range capabilities’ from missile supplier Raytheon.
These purchases are still subject to parliamentary approval from Storting, the supreme legislature of Norway, and estimates of the value of the individual contracts have not been announced.
Eirik Lie, President of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, praised the agreement for building production and delivery capacities in the defence industry, an area that has been the subject of great attention in recent region-wide intergovernmental discussions.
“This is an example of the long-term commitments the industry needs to continue to increase production capacity and delivery capabilities,” said Eirik Lie, President of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. “In recent years, Kongsberg has invested in expanding its own delivery capacity, and at the same time strengthened ties to the many Norwegian and international suppliers that contribute to making NASAMS competitive internationally.”
On 31 October the Norway Ministry of Defence announced a co-operative arrangement with Kongberg and Raytheon on the NASAMS system. The following announcement in November indicates the immediate scale of the arrangement, to replace equipment already donated to Ukraine and to expand the variety of NASAMS missiles to include missiles of different ranges.
After Norwegian Defence Minister Bjørn Arild Gram’s visit to Kyiv in March, the Norwegian Government agreed to the donation of two NASAMS, delivered in cooperation with the US, to contribute to a crucial layer of Ukraine’s air defences. “Norway has previously contributed equipment and training to US donations of NASAMS to Ukraine. These donations have been highly valued and contributed to defeating missile attacks,” said Gram.
Prior to this, Ukraine had reviewed its first two NASAMS systems in September 2022, as part of a Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative from the US that totalled $2.98bn.
A complete NASAMS includes a group of vehicles supplying different elements of air defence, including radar platforms, a fire distribution centre and multiple vehicles carrying cannister launchers.
