Lithuania Purchases Two NASAMS Air Defense System Launchers For Ukraine
On Tuesday, June 27, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense’s Defense Material Agency signed a contract with the Norwegian company Kongsberg to purchase two medium-range NASAMS air defense system launchers for the Ukrainian Armed Forces worth approximately 9.8 million euros ($10.7 million). The purchase was made in response to Ukraine’s urgent request for assistance in strengthening the country’s air defenses against Russia’s ongoing brutal missile attacks on Ukrainian military and civilian targets. On the same day that Lithuania announced the purchase of NASAMS air defense system launchers for Ukraine, Russian missiles struck a restaurant called “Ria Pizza” in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine. Eleven civilians, including children, were killed and 61 were injured as a result of the attack.
In a statement on his social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda for his decision to purchase two NASAMS air defense system launchers and transfer them to Ukraine, saying, “this is an important and timely contribution to protecting Ukraine’s sky and saving lives of Ukrainians. Together to victory!” Hours after making this statement, Volodymyr Zelensky met with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda in Kyiv and briefed him on the country’s current needs for the protection and ‘deoccupation’ of Ukrainian territories.
In the next three months, Lithuania will arrange for the transfer and delivery of equipment to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. The Norwegian Ministry of Defense will contribute as well by donating NASAMS launcher maintenance equipment. Apart from NASAMS air defense system launchers, Lithuania, which has given Ukraine over $500 million in military aid since the beginning of the war, will soon transfer to Kiev 10 M113 tracked armored personnel carriers, 2.5 million rounds of ammunition, and anti-tank weapons.
Currently, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have two NASAMS air defense batteries. These systems were supplied to Kyiv as part of US military aid in October 2022. The Pentagon then announced a $1.2 billion contract with Raytheon Technologies to deliver additional NASAMS systems to Ukraine, with a completion date of November 2025. In addition, Canada announced in January 2023 that it would purchase a NASAMS system made in the United States and donate it to Kyiv. Norway also promised to send Ukraine two more systems.
NASAMS (National/Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) is a Norwegian-American medium-range air defense missile complex produced by a consortium of the American company Raytheon Technologies and the Norwegian Kongsberg Group. Kongsberg states that NASAMS is a highly mobile system that was developed with operational flexibility in mind to defend army units, populated regions, seaports, air bases, and other high-value assets against aircraft, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles. A standard NASAMS unit is comprised of a command post, the FDC, an active 3D radar from Raytheon called the AN/MPQ-64F1 Sentinel, a passive electro-optical and infrared sensor, and a number of missile canister launchers that can fire AMRAAM missiles. The NASAMS air defense system can launch a large number of missiles from short to medium range. The newest NASAMS models are capable of firing the AIM-9X, AMRAAM, and AMRAAM-ER missiles. Depending on the ordnance used, the system has a range of 19–31 miles (30–50 kilometers).