Norway embraces innovation to bolster Ukrainian defence strategy
Norwegians are very satisfied with the effectiveness of the NASAMS system in Ukraine, but the bottleneck is the availability of missiles. They plan to turn to unconventional rockets. Here is what the NASAMS system is and what Norwegians intend to do.
As mentioned in an interview with the portal Euractiv, Eirik Lie, president of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, stated that his company is working on integrating missiles based on Ukrainian technology with the NASAMS system.
Kongsberg is currently in the process of establishing a branch in Ukraine and discussions are ongoing regarding the creation of a joint-venture company in the coming months, which would aim to produce hundreds of missiles. This most likely involves some variations of Ukrainian air-to-air missiles Vympel R-73, R-27, or R-77.
These were developed, produced, or serviced to varying degrees by the Artem plant in Kyiv. It's not surprising that in an era of fighter jet shortages, Ukrainians have begun using R-73 missiles on sea drones or on Osa anti-aircraft systems.
Meanwhile, the integration of modified missiles with well-performing NASAMS systems would significantly reduce Ukraine's dependency on countries like the USA in the long term.
A unique perspective on Norwegian anti-air defence
The NASAMS air defence system, whose name stands for Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System, was developed through cooperation between Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and American RTX, formerly Raytheon. It debuted in the Norwegian armed forces in 1998 and has undergone many upgrades since then, with its second version introduced in 2007. This wasn't the last, as the currently produced units are the third generation.
The creators aimed to develop an anti-aircraft system with open architecture, capable of using air-to-air missiles utilized in aviation. This approach was intended to simplify logistics compared to systems requiring dedicated missiles.
The result is a system that can be integrated with numerous radars – currently 25 different types – and missiles that must comply with the Mil-Std 1760 aviation standard. This allows air defence units to use aviation arsenals and vice versa.
The openness of the NASAMS system
Modernization of launchers and software updates allows compatibility with new models of missiles, significantly boosting the export success of the system, which is currently used by 16 countries worldwide.
The current configuration of NASAMS includes the use of AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, including the ER extended range version, as well as AIM-9 Sidewinder and IRIS-T missiles. It might be possible to integrate Ukrainian missiles once they achieve compatibility with the Mil-Std 1760 rail, potentially through a missile reconstruction process, which is not uncommon.
These missiles would also fit within the range realities of the NASAMS system, as the range of Ukrainian missiles would likely fall between over 10 kilometres to perhaps around 30 kilometres. Their targets could include objects such as drones, helicopters, aircraft, or cruise missiles.
