KIELCE, Poland — In response to Hungary’s plan to purchase a medium-range missile system to upgrade its air defense capabilities, Kongsberg plans to offer the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, jointly developed with Raytheon. Kongsberg hopes its previous sale of the system to Lithuania will help it secure a contract from Budapest.
In May, Hungarian Defence Minister Tibor Benkő told local broadcaster Radio Kossuth his ministry planned to invite bids from MBDA with its Aster systems, Israel Aerospace Industries with the Arrow missile, the MEADS international consortium with the Medium Extended Air Defense System, and Kongsberg and Raytheon with the NASAMS.
“We have an ongoing activity in Hungary, and we are pursuing a contract there by offering the NASAMS,” Dag Løvås, the senior manager for business development at Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, told Defense News at the MSPO defense industry show.
The NASAMS has been supplied to the Eastern European country of Lithuania, and earlier this year that deal was expanded to include additional missiles.
“We hope that what we have accomplished in Lithuania will strengthen our position,” Løvås said.
Løvås added that, to date, 11 states have acquired the NASAMS, and Kongsberg is “pursuing different countries within Eastern Europe” for further contracts. Within the region, the company has also delivered its Naval Strike Missile systems to neighboring Poland.
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.
