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RTX Wins $698.9 Million U.S. NASAMS Contract To Bolster Taiwan And Indo-Pacific Air Defense.
The Raytheon Co. has been awarded a firm-fixed-price contract worth $698,948,760 by the U.S. Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal for production of the NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) fire units destined for Taiwan under a Foreign Military Sales package.
On 17 November 2025, Raytheon was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract worth $698,948,760 for the production of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) fire units destined for Taiwan, as announced by the U.S. Department of War. This award, placed by the U.S. Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, formalizes part of a broader Foreign Military Sales package intended to strengthen Taiwan’s ground-based air defence. Against a backdrop of intensifying Chinese military activity around the island and growing concern over cruise missile and drone threats, the decision underlines Washington’s determination to sustain Taipei’s ability to protect critical infrastructure and military assets. Work will be carried out in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, with an expected completion date of 28 February 2031, signalling a long-term industrial and strategic commitment.
The latest NASAMS contract underscores a deliberate, long-term strategy by Taiwan and the United States to strengthen the island’s air defense network (Picture Source: RTX)
NASAMS is a short- to medium-range, ground-based air defence system jointly developed by Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and Raytheon, designed to intercept aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles. It uses the AIM-120 AMRAAM as its baseline interceptor, a missile also widely employed on Western fighter aircraft, which simplifies logistics and enables shared stockpiles between air and ground forces. A typical fire unit combines multiple canister launchers, an AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel 3D radar, electro-optical sensors and a Fire Distribution Center (FDC) connected through a distributed, networked architecture. Successive iterations, NASAMS 2 and NASAMS 3, introduced standardized tactical data links such as Link 16 and expanded missile options, including the extended-range AMRAAM-ER and AIM-9X, allowing engagement of targets out to several tens of kilometres and to higher altitudes while dispersing sensors and launchers over a wide area to enhance survivability.
Operationally, NASAMS has progressed from a national solution for Norway in the 1990s to one of the most widely adopted medium-range air defence systems in NATO and beyond. The system has been integrated into the air defence of the U.S. capital region and exported to countries including the United States, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Oman, Lithuania, Australia, Qatar, Hungary and, more recently, Ukraine. In Ukraine, NASAMS batteries have contributed to the defence against Russian cruise missiles and drones, with Norwegian officials and operators highlighting high interception rates against Kh-101, Kalibr and other cruise missile threats.The architecture has evolved through incremental upgrades, adding improved radars, modern FDC consoles and mobile launchers, while retaining a modular design that allows each customer to integrate local communications systems, vehicles and sensors, an approach that will likely be reflected in the configuration prepared for Taiwan.
From a capability perspective, NASAMS provides Taiwan with a flexible, networked layer bridging short‑range defenses and long‑range assets like Patriot. Whereas Patriot is optimized for high‑altitude and ballistic missile threats, NASAMS is tailored for dense airspace and saturation attacks by cruise missiles, aircraft, and drones at medium ranges. Its dispersed launcher and radar architecture, spanning over 20 kilometers, combined with active‑radar missiles, enhances resilience against pre‑emptive strikes and electronic warfare. Unlike other medium‑range systems such as IRIS‑T SLM or SAMP/T, NASAMS leverages the widely used AMRAAM family, including the extended‑range AMRAAM‑ER with engagements beyond 50 km. For Taiwan, already operating AMRAAM with its fighter fleet, this commonality streamlines sustainment and enables more flexible management of munitions across domains.
Strategically, the contract deepens Taiwan’s transition towards a fully layered, integrated air and missile defence architecture, designed to cope with large salvos of cruise missiles, stand-off munitions and unmanned systems in the opening stages of a crisis. Positioned alongside Patriot, indigenous Sky Bow systems and point-defence assets, NASAMS contributes to complicating the planning of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force and Rocket Force by increasing the number of nodes that must be located, suppressed or destroyed. At the geopolitical level, the award is a concrete implementation of a $1.16 billion FMS case approved in October 2024 for three NASAMS systems and associated AMRAAM-ER missiles for Taiwan, reinforcing the political message that the United States is prepared to sustain high-end air defence deliveries to Taipei despite diplomatic pressure from Beijing. It also ties Taiwan more tightly into a wider network of NASAMS operators across Europe, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific, facilitating information sharing, training and potential future cooperative upgrades.
The $698.9 million firm‑fixed‑price contract, funded through Taiwan’s FY2026 Foreign Military Sales program, secures a major workload for Raytheon’s Tewksbury facilities through 2031. It likely covers production of complete NASAMS fire units, radars, fire distribution centers, and support equipment, with missile procurement handled separately. The award represents a large portion of the broader $1.16 billion NASAMS package, the remainder expected to fund missiles, training, and integration support. Recent deals with Hungary and Spain underscore NASAMS’s export momentum, and Taiwan’s order further cements the system’s role as a medium‑range air defense standard across NATO and partner nations.
The latest NASAMS contract underscores a deliberate, long-term strategy by Taiwan and the United States to strengthen the island’s air defense network. Rather than a short-term or emergency transfer, it marks a sustained investment spanning nearly six years of production, testing, and integration. The program reinforces the U.S. high-technology industrial base while deepening Taiwan’s connection to a global community of NASAMS operators with proven experience in demanding operational settings. For any potential adversary, it serves as a clear signal that Taiwan’s airspace is becoming significantly more layered, redundant, and resilient against early-attack scenarios than ever before.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.