What is nasams?

NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System)

NASAMS is a distributed and networked medium-range air defense system developed by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace of Norway and Raytheon of the United States. It's designed to protect against a variety of threats, including:

• Aircraft: Including both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.
• Unmanned%20Aerial%20Vehicles (UAVs) or drones.
• Cruise%20Missiles: Providing defense against low-flying, guided missiles.
• Ballistic%20Missiles: NASAMS can engage some types of ballistic missiles, although it is primarily designed for shorter-range threats.

Key Components and Features:

• Raytheon%20Sentinel Radar: The system typically uses the Raytheon Sentinel radar for surveillance and target tracking. This radar provides 3D target information.
• Fire%20Distribution%20Center (FDC): The FDC is the command and control center of the system. It receives target information from the radar and other sources, and then calculates the optimal engagement solution.
• Missile%20Launcher: NASAMS uses the AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) launched from a ground-based launcher. The launcher can hold multiple missiles.
• Networked Architecture: A key feature is its networked architecture, allowing for distributed operations. This enables individual components to be geographically separated and connected via secure communication links. This improves survivability and flexibility.
• Interoperability: NASAMS is designed to be interoperable with other air defense systems, allowing it to be integrated into a larger air defense network.

Deployment:

NASAMS is in service with numerous countries, including the United States, Norway, Spain, Netherlands, Finland, Lithuania, Australia, Indonesia, Qatar, Oman, Ukraine, Hungary and others. It is used for the point defense of high-value assets and infrastructure. It is also famously used to protect the airspace around Washington D.C.