Lithuania purchased NASAMS launchers for Ukraine

The Lithuanian government purchased two NASAMS air defense system launchers for Ukraine.

Gitanas Nausėda, President of Lithuania, reported on this.

“Lithuania has acquired two NASAMS launchers that will be transferred to Ukraine. Air defense is key in fight against the aggressor. Looking forward to more collective decisions on support to Ukraine at the NATO summit in Vilnius. Together until victory!” Nausėda wrote in his social media.

Additional launchers will be included in the systems already deployed on the territory of Ukraine. They should increase the maximum number of ready-to-launch missiles for the air defense system, which may be necessary in the event of mass missile attacks.

Currently, the Air Force of Ukraine has two batteries of NASAMS air defense systems. Also, six more systems were ordered by the United States and one by Canada as part of military aid to Ukraine. Norway also announced plans to transfer two fire platoons of this air defense system.

NASAMS

NASAMS is a Norwegian-American medium-range anti-aircraft missile system, produced by a consortium of the American corporation Raytheon Technologies and the Norwegian Kongsberg group.

The SAM includes launchers and Raytheon AN/MPQ-64F1 Sentinel radar stations from the Raytheon and Kongsberg consortium.

The main tactical unit of NASAMS is the battery. The composition of the battery can vary, but it usually includes three firing units, each of which includes 2-3 missile launchers, one AN/MPQ-64F1 Sentinel radar station, one control vehicle, and one vehicle with an MSP500 electro-optical system.

Each mobile launcher is equipped with six containers with anti-aircraft missiles. The range of the NASAMS II anti-aircraft system configuration using AIM-120С AMRAAM missiles is up to 25 km, and the reach in altitude is up to 14-15 km. The latest version of the NASAMS III system is capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 40 km.

The air defense system uses short- and medium-range air-to-air missiles such as AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM to attack air targets.

The AIM-120 is one of the most widely used air-to-air missiles in the world. Stocks of manufactured missiles of this family exceed the number of any other missiles in their class, which is an important criterion in the conditions of active use of these ammunitions.