Chris posted a good thread about NASAMS, which the US might provide to Ukraine.
Check it out, then come back and I will add a bit more missile info if you like tech specs.
NASAMS comes in three versions numbered 1 to 3. As of 2022 only NASAMS 2 and NASAMS 3 are in service.
We do not know yet if they US bought used NASAMS 2 or brand new NASAMS 3 systems, which are currently being produced by Norway for Lithuania, Qatar, Hungary, and Australia.
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NASAMS 2 & 3 use the AN/MPQ-64F1 Sentinel radar, with a range of 120 km.
Ukraine already received four AN/MPQ-64A1 Sentinel to cue Stinger teams onto approaching russian planes & helicopters.
(The new GhostEye MR radar was unveiled last October and is not yet in production) 3/n
NASAMS 2 uses the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile, which is the most produced Western air-to-air missile. Specifically the AIM-120B, AIM-120C-5, or AIM-120C-7/C-8 are used.
However when these air-to-air missiles are launched from the ground and not from fighters flying at supersonic 4/n
speed at altitude they lose much of their range.
I.e. the Spanish Army's NASAMS 2 uses AIM-120C-5 missiles. The range of a AIM-120C-5 launched at supersonic speed at 6,000m is 105+ km, while the range of a ground launched AIM-120C-5 is 25 km:
A ground launched AIM-120C-7 has a range of 30+ km. NASAMS 3 rectifies this by adding the new AMRAAM-ER missile.
AMRAAM-ER combines the AIM-120C-7's WDU-41/B warhead and active radar homing seeker with the motor of the US Navy's RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM).
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The RIM-162 is a ground launched missile with a 3 inch wider diameter and more powerful rocket motor than the AIM-120. The RIM-162's rocket motor alone weighs 168 kg, while a complete AIM-120C-7 weighs 152 kg.
Additionally the RIM-162 has thrust vector control, which gives
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it a better maneuverability than the AIM-120.
RIM-162 missiles have a 50+km range, while AMRAAM-ER's have a slightly greater range, as the AIM-120C-7's WDU-41/B warhead (18kg) and seeker weigh less than those of the RIM-162 (i.e. warhead 39 kg).
Photo: launch of a AMRAAM-ER 8/n
If you google AMRAAM-ER, most images you get are actually AIM-120 missiles.
So here is a photo to help distinguish the missiles NASAMS 3 can use - from left to right:
AIM-120C-7 (two sets of 4 canards)
AMRAAM-ER (1 set of 4 canards & thick motor section)
AIM-9X Block II
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The AIM-9X Block II is variant of the Sidewinder missile meant to shoot down cruise missile and drones that come within 10 km of a NASAMS launcher. Unlike the active radar homing AIM-120 and the AMRAAM-ER the smaller AIM-9X uses a cheaper passive Infrared seeker (see photo). 10/n
As NASAMS 3 also includes a more powerful Fire Distribution Center (FDC) (see rendering) I hope the US bought that one.
One FDC can be connected with up to 8 radars and a dozen missile launchers... but 2-3 radars and 4-6 launchers will be more likely what Ukraine gets.
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We don't know yet what system and how many of it the US bought. We also don't know what missiles will come with it; so we can't speculate now where Ukraine will deploy them: Kyiv or Donbas or Kherson?
But: here is a AMRAAM-ER launch. I hope we will see this in Donbas next.
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To answer some questions:
• NATO members store 10,000+ AIM-120C
• yearly AIM-120D production capacity is 800+ missiles
• AMRAAM-ER missiles are in production, and as far as I know use the seeker and warheads of stored AIM-120C-7 and pair them with newly built RIM-162 engines
• • •
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People have forgotten the insane density (and cost) of NATO's Cold War SAM belts.
In Germany alone the HAWK belt consisted of (from North to South):
• 24× German
• 12× Dutch
• 8x Belgian
• 35× US Army
• 12× German
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HAWK sites, each of which was filled with radars and missile launchers. (Photo: the Dutch HAWK site on Velmerstot in Germany).
Between the SAM belt and the border mobile radars, and short range air defense systems like Gepard, Roland, Chaparral, VADS, etc. as well as mobile 2/8
Javelin and Stinger teams covered the units operating there.
And behind the HAWK SAM (Surface to Air Missile) belt followed a second SAM belt, with long range NIKE HERCULES missiles, which carried nuclear warheads. All this was backed up by German, US Air Force, British 3/8
On April Fool's Day the head of the German Navy's Naval Aviation the #Marineflieger joked that the Marineflieger would finally get fighter jets again...
This should NOT be a joke.
This should be a high priority investment for the Bundeswehr.
A thread about 🇩🇪🇩🇰🇸🇪🇫🇮🇵🇱🇬🇧:
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During the Cold War the West German & Danish navies' tasks were to:
• prevent the Soviet Baltic, East German & Polish fleets from transiting the Skagerrak
• prevent Warsaw Pact amphibious landings on the Danish isles
For this the German forces in Schleswig Holstein & the
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Danish military were assigned to NATO's Allied Forces Baltic Approaches (BALTAP) Command.
To defend the sea approaches BALTAP had 30 submarines, 56 missile boats, some 60 mine layers, and land based Harpoon missile batteries (which were transferred to Ukraine in June 2022).
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The Soviet Union was losing the war against Germany.
Only the 🇺🇸 US industry saved the Soviets.
In 1941 in seven months of war in the East the Wehrmacht suffered 285,400 irrecoverable losses vs. 3,137,673 irrecoverable Soviet losses. A ratio of 1 to 11 (!). 1/6
In the 12 months of 1942 the Wehrmacht suffered 500,700 irrecoverable losses vs. 3,258,216 Soviet irrecoverable losses. A ratio of 1 to 6.5.
BUT from 1941 to 1942 Soviet average monthly losses decreased by 176,700 troops... because US Lend/Lease materiel began to arrive. 2/6
Especially helpful were 312,600 American trucks (which incl. about 187,900 Studebaker US6). This allowed the Soviets to motorize their rifle divisions and vastly improved Red Army logistics. (The Soviet Union only produced 150,000 trucks during the entire war). 3/6
During the Cold War the British Army was the smallest of the four big (🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪🇮🇹) European NATO armies.
The British Army fielded 13 brigades (+ the Royal Marines' Commando brigade), while Germany fielded 38 and Italy 25 brigades. 1/6
France fielded 12 divisions, which each had the strength of 2× standard NATO brigades.
But no one complained, because at the time the Royal Air Force was the biggest air force on the continent with some 800+ fighters & bombers. Only France fielded a comparable air force. 2/6
And the Royal Navy was the second biggest navy in NATO with more ocean-going ships than the French, German and Italian navies combined (!).
But after the Cold War, and especially under the Tory governments since 2010, the British Armed Forces have been wrecked. 3/6
#Transnistria asking putin to annex it to russia is insane.
The center of Tiraspol, the capital of this russian created fake state, is barely 10km from Ukraine... and there are 0 geographical obstacles between Ukraine and Transnistria.
The six Ukrainian brigades currently 1/4
in the Odesa region (20,000+ battle hardened troops) outmatch the approximately 4,000 Transnistrian troops and 1,000 russian troops. And half of the Transnistrian troops are in the north, while half of the russians are on the other side of the Dniester in the city of Bender,
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with just one bridge connecting Bender to the rest of Transnistria... not to mention that if Ukraine goes in, then so will Moldova and Romania, which will see the few Transnistrian troops attacked from ALL sides.
Ukraine has the easiest route to enter Transnistria: this image 3/4