Kongsberg signs deals with Ukraine on air-defence missiles, equipping USVs with Protector RWS

NASAMS, which employs the Raytheon AMRAAM as the baseline missile. (Kongsberg)

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) has signed agreements with unnamed Ukrainian defence companies to deliver air-defence missiles and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) in Ukraine, according to the company's 22 June press release.

The first agreement is a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Kongsberg and a “major Ukrainian industry player”, according to the release. The deal will see a joint development and production of air-defence missiles, which can be delivered in large quantities and integrated with the Kongsberg- and Raytheon-developed National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) air-defence system in Ukraine.

“We are preparing new solutions based on NASAMS to strengthen our defence of the population and critical infrastructure,” Ukraine's Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov said in a social media post on 22 June.

In January 2025, Umerov announced the possibility of integrating Ukrainian air-defence assets into NASAMS. In February 2025, Eirik Lie, president of KDA, said in a media interview that the company was looking to increase missile production of air-defence systems in Ukraine based on “Ukrainian technology” via a joint venture within a few months.

The Norwegian government, in partnership with KDA and Ukraine, will finance the development of the missiles.

In November 2022, Ukraine's then Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine received its first delivery of NASAMS.

A standard unit of the NASAMS medium-range system has a modular design, which consists of a command post, a Raytheon AN/MPQ-64F1 Sentinel active 3D radar, a passive electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) sensor, and a number of missile canisters launching Raytheon's Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). NASAMS is operational in 13 countries, according to Kongsberg.