Norway To Provide Kiev With Additional NASAMS Air Defense Systems

Norway has agreed to supply Ukraine with additional NASAMS air defense systems, ARTHUR counter-battery radar systems and M270 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRSs), Ukrainian parliament Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk said on Tuesday.

From May 16-18, Stefanchuk payed an official visit to Norway, where he met with Norwegian parliament President Masud Gharahkhani and other officials, as well as the leadership of Norway-based technology group Kongsberg Gruppen, which is engaged in the production of NASAMS air defense system, to discuss weapons supplies to Ukraine.

"While in Norway, we have managed to negotiate additional NASAMS, the transfer of MLRSs, ARTHUR counter-battery radars, and other necessary weapons to Ukraine," Stefanchuk told Ukrainian national news agency Ukrinform.

The announcement of new deliveries came after in March, Norway and the United States confirmed their joint decision to provide Ukraine with two NASAMS ground-based air defense systems and train Ukrainian troops to operate them following Kiev's repeated requests for additional military aid.

Prior to this, in October 2022, Washington handed over two NASAMS systems to Kiev. In November, Canada announced the allocation of $500 million military aid to Ukraine, with a significant part of these funds later also spent on the purchase of one NASAMS unit and missiles. In December, Greg Hayes, the chief executive officer of US defense company Raytheon Technologies, said that the US, along with its NATO allies, had launched negotiations with a number of middle Eastern countries on the transfer of NASAMS systems to Ukraine.