Article Posted on : - Jun 26, 2013

The NASAMS High Mobility Launcher provides transportability to manoeuvring forces. Photo: Raytheon.

TEWKSBURY, MASSACHUSETTS (BNS): Raytheon Company has delivered the first High Mobility Launcher (HML) for Norway's National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) to provide Norway with advanced air defence capability.

"The Royal Norwegian Air Force is the first international NASAMS customer to receive this highly mobile solution that can be easily rolled on and off a C-130," Sanjay Kapoor, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defence for Raytheon's Integrated Defence Systems (IDS) business, was quoted as saying in the news release.

"This is an important milestone for Raytheon and our partner KONGSBERG because of the transportability, safety and security it brings to the maneuvering forces when countering evolving threats," he added.

When time is of the essence to protect high-value assets and populations, the HML significantly reduces the time required to transport and ready the system.

The new HML has the modern NASAMS electronics that the Norwegian Air Force will soon be installing and upgrading in its existing fleet of canister launchers.

The resulting commonality will help reduce maintenance and lifecycle costs.

The modern package includes GPS and north-finding instrumentation for quicker system placement and positioning in the battlefield and increased target engagement accuracy.

In addition to Norway and an undisclosed customer, the Raytheon-KONGSBERG NASAMS is currently deployed in Finland, the Netherlands, Spain and the US National Capital Region.