REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – U.S. Army air-defense experts needed medium-range air-defense systems to help defend Taiwan from aerial threats like aircraft, uncrewed aircraft, and cruise missiles. They found a solution from RTX Corp.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone, Arsenal, Ala., announced a $698.9 million foreign military sales contract to the RTX Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems segment in Tewksbury, Mass., on Monday for National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System fire units that will go to Taiwan.
The National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) is a medium-range air defense system to defend against many different kinds of aerial threats. The primary interceptor is the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile, but more recent versions (NASAMS 3) also can deploy AIM-9X Sidewinder and AMRAAM-ER missiles.
NASAMS fire units are modular components within NASAMS. A typical NASAMS fire unit consists of three missile launchers, each carrying as many as six AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles; an AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radar for target detection and tracking; a fire-distribution center vehicle, which serves as the command and control node; and an electro-optical camera or sensor vehicle for target acquisition and tracking in different visibility conditions.
Taiwan's first NASAMS
Taiwan does not operate NASAMS yet, but has finished a deal to purchase at least three NASAMS batteries, with the potential to order nine more, bringing the prospective total to 12 systems.
NASAMS is a product of RTX Raytheon and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace in Kongsberg, Norway. It has a modular and network-centric architecture that uses the fire distribution center for command and control, Link 16 networking for secure data sharing, and surveillance and tracking radars like the Raytheon AN/MPQ-64F1 Sentinel radar and infrared sensors.
Each NASAMS battery typically consists of a command post, 3D active radar, infrared sensors, and several missile launchers distributed as far apart as 16 miles for survivability and coverage. The entire system can engage as many as 72 targets simultaneously.
NASAMS users
The U.S. capital region has deployed NASAMS for air defense since 2005. The system also is in operation by Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Lithuania, Oman, Indonesia, Australia, Qatar, Hungary, and Ukraine. Upgrades are expanding NASAMS interoperability with other air defense systems like the Patriot missile.
A complete NASAMS 2 battery can consist of as many as four fire units deployed in a distributed network over wide areas. Each fire unit can operate semi-autonomously, but normally are linked through a real-time communication network for coordinated defense.
On this contract RTX Raytheon will do the work in Tewksbury, Mass., and should be finished by February 2031. For more information contact RTX Raytheon online at www.rtx.com/raytheon/what-we-do/integrated-air-and-missile-defense/nasams, or the Army Contracting Command-Redstone at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa/.
