Raytheon Australia has been selected to supply its National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) for the Australian Army by granting First Pass Approval for the Land 19 Phase 7B project.

That was reported by australiandefence.com.au.

The tender will be released to Raytheon Australia in the first half of 2017 to develop its highly successful National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) for the ADF. Raytheon will be the Prime System Integrator (PSI) for Army’s future GBAD capability.

Minister for Defence Senator Marise Payne said the project is the first step in the development of the Australian Army’s contribution to the ADF’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) Program announced in the 2016 Defence White Paper.

The Government will invest up to $2 billion in the system which will provide the inner most layer of Australia’s enhanced integrated air and missile capability. Raytheon’s proposal for second pass consideration by Government will be based upon the Raytheon/Kongsberg NASAMS capability that is fielded in seven nations, including the US and Norway. The system can utilise different launchers, radar technologies and missile types for a range of different ground based air and missile defence missions.

In collaboration with Defence and CEA Technologies, Raytheon Australia will also investigate the option of the Medusa system; an incorporation of Australian AESA sensor technology into the proven baseline of NASAMS.

NASAMS (Norwegian or National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) is a distributed and networked medium to long range air-defence system. NASAMS was the first surface-based application for the AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile).

The NASAMS has been exported to the United States, with the NASAMS 2 upgrade having been exported to Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Oman, and Chile.