Lithuania has decided to purchase an undisclosed number of additional National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) combat and inert missiles from Norway, according to the Ministry of National Defence Republic of Lithuania.
It is hard to comment on an additional purchase of missiles, when you don’t know how many they bought or had already. But apparently the new deal does not mean that the combined costs of the project grow. They are still estimated to be about €110 million, which is roughly the same price that was announced in 2017 when Lithuania decided to invest in the NASAMS system. Or perhaps the additional contract was anticipated in the first cost estimate.
While the number of missiles is unknown, we do know that Lithuania plans to equip two batteries with two launchers each. Having the NASAMS medium range air defense system will dramatically improve the air defense capabilities for Lithuania. The system is expected to be fully implemented in 2021.
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