The Greek General Staff is concerned about the ease of destruction of two NASAMS systems in Ukraine

The Greek General Staff expressed concern about the ease with which Russian Kh-47M2 Kinzhal supersonic missiles destroyed at least two batteries of the NASAMS anti-aircraft system (and, secondly, a large stockpile of PAC-3 missiles of the MIM-104 Patriot system), which the Greek Armed Forces were going to buy

This is the first time that NASAMS (National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) systems of Norwegian and American design, which are also candidates to replace the MIM-23 I.HAWK in the Greek medium- and long-range air defense and anti-ballistic defense umbrella, have been destroyed on the ground, writes the popular Greek edition ProNews.

According to the publication, the air defense systems that are being destroyed are the NASAMS/NASAMS II version, which uses AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile) missiles, and the NASAMS III version can also use AIM-9X Block short-range missiles. 2 Sidewinders. The maximum range of the system depends on the AIM-120 version and is 15-25 km (with AIM-120B/C5/C7 missiles) or 50 km (with AMRAAM-ER missiles).

NASAMS was developed in the early 1990s, reaching initial operational capability in 1995 and full operational capability in 1998.

The difference between NASAMS and NASAMS II is the integration of Link-16/Link-11 data transmission systems and the adoption of the AN/MPQ-64F1 Improved Sentinel radar.

NASAMS III adds the ability to launch AIM-9 missiles and includes improved launchers for use as SHORADS.

A typical NASAMS II battery composition is 12 six-man launchers, eight (8) AN/MPQ-64F1 Improved Sentinel, one (1) fire control center, one (1) MSP-500 electro-optical camera and one (1) self-propelled tactical control cell ( TCC).

In Greece, this system was introduced in two stages – March 10, 2022 and January 24, 2023. Both presentations were made at the Army General Staff (GES) by executives from the American company Raytheon.

NASAMS is the result of a partnership between Raytheon and the Norwegian company Kongsberg, and has had significant commercial success in both its original version (NASAMS) and the improved version NASAMS II, which has been in production since 2006.

The Greek MIM-23 I.HAWK should have been replaced ten years ago, but the economic disaster caused by the memorandums prevented this, so the country’s average anti-aircraft defense, for which the ground army is responsible, only partially exists.

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