Strengthening air defense: Ukraine and Norway cooperate in the NASAMS project

Norway actively cooperates with Ukraine to integrate domestic missile interceptors into NASAMS anti-aircraft missile systems. This information was announced on January 12 by Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Espen Bart Eide. The main goal of this initiative is to reduce the cost of weapons and increase the number of air defense missiles.

According to the minister, one of the main difficulties of modern air defense systems is the high price of the missiles used and their limited number. Cooperation with Ukrainian manufacturers can be a solution that allows obtaining less expensive ammunition in larger volumes without losing effectiveness.

Ukraine has also expressed interest in jointly developing NASAMS missiles with the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace as early as June 2025. Kongsberg created this medium-range anti-aircraft missile complex in partnership with the American company Raytheon and uses air-to-air missile systems, including the AIM-120 AMRAAM.

The NASAMS system consists of three launchers capable of launching 18 missiles, an AN/TPQ-64 radar station, and a fire control station. It can hit targets at distances up to 40 km and at altitudes up to 21 km. Ukraine began receiving the first NASAMS complexes in the fall of 2022, and Lithuania and Canada additionally purchased systems to support Ukrainian air defense.