Hungary has become the latest country to commit to the medium range extension of the Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System, or NASAMS, signing a reported US$1bn (A$1.4bn) contract with the US DoD and with Raytheon to acquire AIM-120 AMRAAM-Extended Range (ER) missiles.
The combined foreign military sale (FMS) and direct commercial sale (DCS) comes after a May 2020 notification by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) of the possible sale of at least 60 AMRAAM-ERs for the NASAMS system it has on order. While the FMS sale covers the AMRAAM-ERs, the contents of the DCS remains unclear.
The standard NASAMS system comprises a Raytheon AN/MPQ-64F1 Sentinel active 3D radar, a passive electro-optical and infrared sensor (EO/IR), and missile canister launchers with AMRAAM missiles. Other countries such as Qatar have also specified the longer range AMRAAM-ER for their NASAMS, giving the system a true medium-range ground based air defence (MRGBAD) capability.
Other NASAMS operators include Norway, Chile, Spain, Finland, Lithuania, Netherlands, and the US, while India, Oman, and Indonesia have ordered the system.
Australia last year ordered NASAMS for its LAND 19 Phase 7B short-range GBAD (SRGBAD) requirement, and has specified radars developed by CEA Technologies, integration of the radars and fire distribution centres (FDC) with Thales Hawkei PMV and Rheinmetall HX44 vehicles, and the option of firing shorter range AIM-9X missiles.