What is the Norwegian NASAMS air defense system, which is expected in Kiev
The United States, as part of military assistance to Ukraine, is ready to supply Kiev with NASAMS air and missile defense systems, the American CNN channel reported. "Newspaper.Ru" worked out together with military experts how dangerous the appearance of such weapons in the Armed Forces of Ukraine is.
The NASAMS system is a mobile anti-aircraft missile system designed to combat maneuvering aerodynamic targets at low and medium altitudes, which should mean both aircraft and cruise missiles and UAVs. This is a system with a maximum range of 180 km. At the same time, most of the missiles are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 120 km.
NASAMS is a development of the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace in collaboration with the American company Raytheon. This system is in service with both the armies of Norway and the United States, as well as Spain, the Netherlands, Finland and in the number of three complexes - Latvia. It began to enter service in 1994. In Norway itself, it was planned to replace similar American Hawk complexes.
It is significant that Spain has placed in the Latvian city of Lielvard a battery of its NASAMS complexes at the US Air Force base - eight units, that is, all in service. This happened simultaneously with the appearance of news about possible supplies of NASAMS to Ukraine, as well as with a partial transport blockade of the Kaliningrad region by Lithuania.
"The NASAMS complex should not be underestimated, it is quite advanced technologies in the field of air defense and missile defense," he told the newspaper.Ru" military expert Vladimir Baturkin. - But they are well known to us and, accordingly, there are methods of counteraction from fighter and bomber aircraft. For example, the MiG-31 will simply not catch up with such a missile, and the strategic Tu-95 will not enter the zone of their destruction and will strike with longer-range cruise missiles."
"These are quite expensive weapons, but the main thing is that they are very complex, incomparable in cost with either the Stinger MANPADS or most other weapons that Washington has sent to Kiev so far. There are nuances here. Firstly, the United States actually recognizes its participation in the military conflict in Ukraine with the supply of such weapons, and the second circumstance follows from this - only well-trained specialists can manage such complex systems. For example, the same Americans. I want to note that at the same time the CNN channel gave a story that American military instructors and other military personnel of NATO countries are secretly taking part in the fighting in Ukraine. This means that the Americans, instead of the APU, will fight with Russia in the most important areas, including as NASAMS operators," he told the newspaper.Ru" member of the Board of Military Experts Sergey Belousov.
The training of the Ukrainian military themselves to work with NASAMS can take a very long time, he noted in a conversation with Gazeta.Ru" military expert Vladislav Shurygin.
"It takes years to train the calculation of the Russian anti-aircraft complex. An officer has been studying for five years, contractors, who, figuratively speaking, can be called "charging", master the profession for two or three years, it takes another three years to prepare the operator," Shurygin said. - I don't understand what the Ukrainian military will do if they are sent such an intricate anti-aircraft humanitarian aid. It is most likely that foreign instructors who are familiar with such equipment will really arrive and they will be the ones who will "catch" the target in sight."
According to the expert, the APU cannot fully use sophisticated weapons of foreign manufacture - and sometimes they are left in positions when retreating.
"Nevertheless, Ukraine has become a big testing ground for various kinds of foreign weapons," he told the newspaper.En" Reserve Major General Alexander Vladimirov. - The same Americans are testing equipment in combat conditions, testing its potential. This applies to various systems, both anti-tank, anti-aircraft and anti-missile. The Pentagon learns from the mistakes of the Ukrainian military and draws appropriate conclusions. I will note that the Russian army also draws appropriate conclusions and changes tactics of actions."
Victor Sokirko
