Kongsberg to supply more air defence systems to Lithuania

Lithuania has ordered more NASAMS medium-range air defence systems from Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and current systems in service with the Baltic will also be modernised under the deal.

Lithuania purchased systems in 2017 and earlier this year Lithuania’s Ministry of Defence purchased NASAMS missile launchers for donation to Ukraine. Lithuania became the first international customer of NASAMS III in October 2020.

The NOK2.3 billion (US$218.6 million) contract is another example of Baltic, former Soviet and Eastern European countries boosting their defensive capabilities in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

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The system consists of Raytheon’s Sentinel radar and three advanced missile variants, as well as Kongsberg’s Fire Distribution Center and multi-missile launchers.

According to Shephard Defence Insight, each battery for Lithuania will comprise four launchers mounted on Mercedes-Benz 8x8 trucks, Kongsberg’s Fire Distribution Center, two Raytheon MPQ-64F1 Sentinel 3D radars and several other components mounted on 4x4 trucks.

Baltic and Eastern European countries have been turning to Western air- and land-defence systems in the past decade and more so since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

Earlier this month, Latvia announced it had made its largest defence investment as an independent country, signing a €600 million (US$647 million) deal with Diehl Defence for an IRIS-T SLM medium-range air defence system.

In November, MBDA UK and the Polish PGZ signed a £4 billion (US$4.9 billion) deal to work on the next phase of Poland’s future air defence programme.