Australia first stage to acquire NASAMS missile system with Raytheon.

Australian Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, November 8, 2017, announced a major milestone in the Short Range Ground Based Air Defence project. Minister Pyne said a $12.1 million contract has been signed with Raytheon Australia for the first stage of the project to acquire NASAMS air defense missile system, which is worth up to $2 billion.

NASAMS short-range air defense missile system at MSPO Defense Exhibition in Poland (September 2017)

“This will include Risk Mitigation Activities to inform the final system configuration, which will create up to 10 new jobs,” said Minister Pyne. “The year-long Risk Mitigation Activity will examine the system’s use in an Australian context.”

“It’s a significant project and the work will ensure we make the right decisions to protect our troops.”

“The Australian Government has committed to the highly successful National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS), which will be adapted to Australian requirements.”

“Importantly, this work will investigate potential capability enhancements to inform the NASAMS’s final system configuration, including integration with existing Australian Defence Force equipment.”

“This will include integration testing with CEA Technologies’ phased array radar system and Thales Australia’s Hawkei and Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles.”

“The Short Range Ground Based Air Defence system will provide the inner most layer of Australia’s enhanced integrated air and missile defence capability, operated by Army’s 16th Air Land Regiment.”

Raytheon will also hold workshops around Australia later this year to engage with Australian industry about supply chain opportunities. Defence will use Raytheon’s work to complete a detailed analysis prior to returning to Government for final consideration in 2019.

Recently Indonesia and Lithuania have announced the signature of contracts for the acquisition of NASAMS short-range air defense missile system manufactured by the Norwegian Company Kongsberg. It was designed and developed jointly by Raytheon from United States and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace from Norway, primarily for the Norwegian Air Force.

The missile system can engage 72 targets simultaneously in active and passive modes. The primary missile of the system is the AIM-120 AMRAAM which hit aerial targets at a maximum range of 33 km with a maximum altitude of 15,000m.