Review of the Norwegian anti-aircraft missile system NASAMS

NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) medium-range anti-aircraft missile system is designed to strike air targets at low and medium altitudes in all weather conditions.

The complex was adopted by the Norwegian Air Force in 1994 to replace the Enhanced Falcon complexes. It can accompany and hit more targets at the same time, reducing the transfer time of the complex from the starting position to the combat position. At the same time, the number of service personnel is reduced by four times, NASAMS has a higher degree of equipment assemblage and the ability to combine with other systems.

The complex includes an all-terrain vehicle Scania P113, a launcher based on the chassis of the AMRAAM missiles (AIM-120A) air-to-air class, six transport and launch containers and a multifunctional radar station AN / MPQ-64.

The AIM-120A guided missile (OCR) is made according to the normal aerodynamic scheme and has a small cross-shaped wing, which provides quite good maneuverability even at low flight speeds and a cross-shaped rudder in the tail.

Missiles are launched at a fixed angle of 30 °. The capture of the target with the OCR homing radar head occurs at a distance of up to 20 km, after which it is actively aimed. The missile is equipped with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, which is detonated by an active radar or contact fuze.

In the stowed position, transport and launch containers with DCR are placed horizontally. To increase the survivability of the complex, the deployment of the launcher at a distance of up to 25 km from the control point and radar positions. In this case, communication with the installations can be organized by cable, fiber optic or digital communication line.

Thales Communication based on the TAS 300 switch (Tactical Eurocom switch), provides high-speed exchange, encoding and decoding of traffic between network nodes, interface with STANAG 4206 networks (NATO multi-channel tactical digital gateway for interaction between backbone networks using a single communication line) ) ).

The multifunctional radar station AN / MPQ-64 Sentinel provides detection, recognition and simultaneous tracking of up to 60 air targets, as well as guidance of up to three OKB to selected ones. The radar monitors the field due to mechanical rotation of the antenna in azimuth and electronic scanning in the corner.

The radar is controlled by an electronic computer of the fire control point. The radar takes 10 minutes to deploy and prepare for operation. All station equipment is installed on a towed trailer. By the way, to ensure combat operations in a difficult emergency, the NASAMS complex is equipped with an optoelectronic guidance system – NTAS (Norwegian Tracking Assistance System).

Information about the weather from the radar (data update time is 2 seconds) is transmitted to the fire control point, which includes two high-performance computers, a multi-purpose modular design module with display and control systems, data transmission equipment and communications. .

The console has two replicating automated workstations (AWPs) with identical controls. Each workstation is equipped with three screens, two of which show the entire weather and combat situation, and the third – the status and readiness of complex systems. Detailed information about the movement direction, speed and altitude of any target can be obtained by the operator by entering the azimuth pointer and pressing the data arrow button to display it on the instrument screen.

The main tactical unit of NASAMS SAM is a battery. It consists of three fire detachments (total of 54 missile sets) combined in an information network, so that each of the three radars can replace the others. The command post of the battery (located at one of the fire control points) can receive a target instruction from the higher headquarters and send data on the weather to the platoon fire control points. And all 54 missiles can be fired at different targets within 12 seconds.