Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Reports tonight from CNN that the US is planning to provide NASAMS air defence missile systems to Ukraine are a big deal, if true. Here's why.

https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1541179512561582085

2/ The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) combines Norwegian-made launchers and control systems with American AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs). It's capable of engaging 72 targets simultaneously.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1541183155717017600

3/ NASAMS integrates MPQ-64 Sentinel radars and AMRAAM missiles with a Norwegian battle management system called Fire Distribution Center (FDC). Its effective firing range is reported to be around 25 km, at altitudes of between 300 m - 16 km, and a claimed 85% hit probability.

4/ A NASAMS battery comprises three fire units (9 launchers with a total of 54 missiles), three MPQ-64F radars, one fire control centre, one electro-optical camera vehicle (which provides passive guidance) and one Tactical Control Cell vehicle. Total cost about $64 million.

5/ What makes it special, though, is that it's fully networked via the NATO-standard Link 16 military tactical data link network. The elements of the system can be widely dispersed, making it difficult for enemy forces to target.

6/ Each of the radars is capable of replacing the others. The fire control centre can receive target designations from headquarters and issue data to the individual launchers. All 54 missiles can be fired at various targets within 12 seconds.

7/ This setup is quite different from older SAMs, where the command & control centre, radars and launchers are all set up on one site. NASAMS spreads these installations over a wide area with decentralised control system.

8/ Hostile forces face great difficulty in finding and neutralising the system as there is no singie site to be found - it's all dispersed. Even if one element is hit, the built-in redundancy means that the remaining parts are still operational.

9/ Ukraine has been interested in NASAMs for some time. Its principal air defence system has been the Buk-M1, dating to the early 1980s, of which it had 72 in 2016. However, the Buk and other Soviet-made SAMs are now largely obsolete.

10/ Ukraine's "Vision of the Armed Forces-2035", announced in 2021, envisaged withdrawing existing S-125, S-300P, S-300V and Buk missiles from service and replacing them with a new medium-range surface-to-air missile system.

11/ It remains to be seen how many batteries are to be given to Ukraine and where they'll be stationed. As NASAMS has a shorter range than the better-known MIM-104 Patriot (25 vs 90-160 km), more batteries will be needed to cover the same area.

12/ But however many are delivered, it's clearly going to be a big problem for Russia. When Canadian F-18s went up against NASAMS in a 1999 exercise, they were unable to find any of the batteries, while NASAMS recorded 18 simulated kills. I doubt Russia will do any better. /end

@general_ben @Osinttechnical @ian_matveev @TrentTelenko @leonidragozin @UAWeapons @HN_Schlottman @WarintheFuture @mdmitri91 @KofmanMichael @IAPonomarenko @noclador @yarotrof

Very useful deep dive by @noclador into NASAMS' technical specifications:

https://twitter.com/noclador/status/1541270476374192128?t=enbUmzfJcc0Qr6iMHG3Ssw&s=19