Belgium signs €917 million NASAMS contract with Kongsberg to protect strategic sites against missiles and drones.

Norway's Kongsberg Gruppen has signed a NOK 10 billion contract with the Netherlands procurement authority on behalf of Belgium to supply National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems. The acquisition enables Belgium to rebuild its ground-based air defense force following a joint procurement arrangement integrated with Dutch defense structures. The multi-unit package is designed to secure critical national infrastructure, enhance European air defense capabilities, and counter emerging low-altitude aerial threats.

The procurement covers 10 NASAMS firing units acquired through a broader European defense framework, with interim operational capabilities scheduled from 2027. This agreement marks Belgium's return to possessing a dedicated sovereign surface-to-air missile defense layer after a two-decade hiatus.

Related topic: Belgium purchases 14 Ground Master 200 radars with 10 NASAMS and 20 Skyranger air defense systems at NATO summit

The NASAMS will occupy the medium-range portion of Belgium’s future layered air defense, primarily engaging fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, drones, and other air-breathing targets. (Picture source: Norwegian MoD)

On September 29, 2026, the Norwegian company Kongsberg signed a NOK 10 billion (€917.96 million) contract to supply NASAMS air defence systems to Belgium, completing the contractual step that followed Belgium's July 8 decision to rebuild a ground-based air defense force around 10 NASAMS firing units. As Belgium is joining the Dutch acquisition structure, the Netherlands procurement authority is contracting on the country's behalf, with the Belgian Air Force as operator. The order forms part of a €3.1 billion package covering 10 NASAMS, 20 Skyranger 30s, 14 Ground Master 200 radars, 54 command vehicles and ammunition, totaling 98 major systems and vehicles before individual NASAMS launchers, missiles and support equipment are counted. Belgium plans an interim leased NASAMS capability from 2027, followed by Belgian-owned equipment from 2028. On the same day, the Netherlands ordered about NOK 1.5 billion (€137.69 million) in additional NASAMS and NOMADS systems for CITADEL, bringing the two contracts to NOK 11.5 billion (€1.0549 billion).

The 10 NASAMS units represent substantially more than 10 missile launchers, as each firing unit is a distributed combination of command, sensor and weapon elements. Earlier Belgian planning called for four launchers per battery, implying 40 launchers if retained in the final configuration. With six missile canisters per standard launcher, that structure would provide 24 ready-to-fire interceptors per battery and 240 across the Belgian force, excluding reloads, although neither the contracted launcher quantity nor missile stock has been confirmed. More importantly, each NASAMS system separates its Fire Distribution Center (FDC), sensors and launchers, with firing and radar elements able to operate more than 20 km away from the FDC. Belgium could therefore disperse four launchers across separate firing positions instead of concentrating 24 missiles at one site, complicating enemy targeting and allowing individual launchers to cover separate approach axes.

Currently, the NASAMS can employ AIM-120 AMRAAM, AMRAAM-ER and AIM-9X missiles, allowing the FDC to assign different interceptors to targets such as aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles and drones according to distance, altitude and engagement ranges. The relevant ground-launched engagement envelope is in the 25-50 km class, with the AMRAAM-ER providing the longer reach. The AIM-120, for its part, uses inertial guidance, mid-course updates, and an active radar seeker for terminal interception, removing the need for continuous target illumination. A 25 km radius corresponds mathematically to 1,963 km² and 50 km to 7,854 km², but actual low-altitude coverage is smaller because terrain and radar horizon can delay detection of cruise missiles and UAVs. Ten NASAMS units therefore provide 10 maneuverable defended zones rather than allowing a nationwide coverage of Belgium's 30,689 km² territory.

The purchase of 14 Ground Master 200 radars addresses part of that problem, as it produces a ratio of 1.4 radars for every NASAMS system, leaving four radars beyond a one-for-one battery allocation. The GM200 provides a surveillance range of 250 km, an engagement mode range of 100 km, an altitude coverage of up to 80,000 ft (24.4 km) and track updates down to 1.5 seconds. It can track aircraft, hovering helicopters, cruise missiles, UAVs, rockets, artillery projectiles and mortars, so the radar fleet is not restricted to feeding NASAMS engagements. Moreover, the radar, mast, power equipment and two operator stations fit inside a 20-foot ISO shelter weighing less than 10 tonnes, with a deployment taking about 15 minutes. Fourteen radars also allow Belgium to create several surveillance sectors even if some sets are relocating, undergoing maintenance or supporting training, without removing the sensor assigned to every NASAMS unit simultaneously.

The 20 Skyranger 30s, for their part, will provide the short-range air defense layer below NASAMS, particularly against small drones approaching a defended site, for which AMRAAM expenditure would rapidly consume the missile inventory. Each Skyranger 30 carries a 30×173 mm Oerlikon KCE revolver cannon firing nominally 1,200 rounds per minute, or 20 rounds per second, with an anti-aircraft engagement range close to 3 km and programmable airburst ammunition that detonates close to the predicted target position. Numerically, Belgium is buying two Skyrangers for every NASAMS system. Assigning that ratio permanently would give each NASAMS battery two close-defense guns but consume the entire 20-vehicle fleet, leaving none for independent defense of air bases, headquarters, ports or ammunition sites. Their allocation will therefore determine how much of the short-range force protects NASAMS itself and how much remains available for independent counter-UAS defense.

The principal capacity constraint is likely to be ammunition and trained crews rather than the nominal number of batteries. Belgium's 10 NASAMS, 20 Skyrangers, 14 GM200s and 54 command vehicles already require dozens of operators for firing control, radar, launchers, communications, missile handling, reloads, maintenance, transport and command. Missile inventory creates a second manpower and logistics requirement because an empty launcher has to be resupplied from stocks that themselves require storage, transport, inspection, and handling. Even a theoretical 240 missiles loaded simultaneously across 40 launchers would represent only one complete launcher load. A second complete reload would require another 240 missiles, while three complete loads would require 720, none of which should be confused with confirmed Belgian missile purchases. The equipment will therefore be assigned to the re-established 9th Wing Missiles of the Belgian Air Force, reviving a formation whose predecessor was headquartered at Grefrath in Germany and operated Nike Hercules surface-to-air missiles.

Ukraine provides a measurable example of the ammunition demand such a force can face. The NASAMS entered Ukrainian service in November 2022, and by February 2025 the Norwegian Armed Forces reported about 900 successful interceptions with a 94% hit rate; nearly 60% were cruise missiles, equivalent to roughly 540 interceptions, including Kh-101, Kh-555, Kalibr, Iskander-K, Kh-59 and Kh-69. On April 27, 2025, one Ukrainian NASAMS unit intercepted 11 cruise missiles in less than two minutes, while that unit had accumulated more than 150 aerial kills. Norway also deployed the NASAMS to Rzeszów Airport in Poland from December 2024 to protect the main logistics hub for assistance to Ukraine. For Belgium, these cases point to two practical force-employment models: concentrating NASAMS batteries and their missile stocks around high-value nodes such as air bases, ports, command facilities and NATO reinforcement infrastructure, or dispersing launchers and sensors across several positions and relocating them as the threat changes.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.