Norway contracts Kongsberg to upgrade NASAMS units

Soldiers from Norway's Air Defence Battalion set up a NASAMS launcher on Andøya island during Exercise ‘Formidable Shield' in May 2025. (Torbjørn Kjosvold/The Norwegian Armed Forces)

The Norwegian Defence Material Agency (NDMA: Forsvarsmateriell) announced on 31 October a contract of around NOK1 billion (USD98 million) for Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace to upgrade its National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) units with new capabilities.

The contract will see Norway's four NASAMS batteries equipped with new command posts (NASAMS Command Post [NCP]), wheeled communication access points (CAPs), and radios. The multirole radio (MRR) currently in use will be replaced with Kongsberg's Thor dual-channel tactical software-defined radio (SDR), intended for higher capacity use with more functions.

All the equipment for the NCP and CAP upgrades is based on existing components that are already in production, but assembled in a new configuration to meet operational needs, said the NDMA.

The NDMA has also ordered additional components with long lead times to ensure that extra NASAMS units could be delivered quickly, in line with Norway's long-term defence plan.

NDMA Director General Gro Jære highlighted “flexible and modern command posts and communication systems” as necessary in the upgrade.

In 2024 Norway ordered its four NASAMS batteries – one in January 2024, one in June, and two in December. Two NASAMS simulators, now based at Ørland and Evenes in central Norway were ordered in December 2024. Dual spare parts packs for all four batteries were ordered in October 2024 to improve the preparedness of the units. Also in October 2024 the NDMA ordered hundreds of AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) for its NASAMS units under a foreign military sales (FMS) agreement from the United States, in a contract worth around NOK4 billion.

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