According to information released by the Latvian army on June 26, 2022, the Spanish army deployed a NASAMS air defense missile system in Latvia in response to the need to strengthen the defense capabilities of the Baltic region after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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The Spanish army begins the deployment of a battery of NASAMS air defense missiles in Latvia. (Photo source Latvian army)
The Spaniard NASAMS The air defense missile system will be deployed at the Latvian military base in Lielvarde, a town in the municipality of Ogre in the Vidzeme region of Latvia, on the right bank of the Daugava River, 52 km southeast of Riga.
An important component of NATO’s deterrence and defense posture is a military presence in the eastern part of Alliance territory. In recent years, Allies have strengthened NATO’s forward presence by establishing multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
Following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Allies agreed to establish four more multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. This brings the total number of multinational battlegroups to eight, stretching all along NATO’s eastern flank – from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south.
The Spanish military acquired its four NASAMS 2 air defense missile systems in 2003. In November 2011, the American company Raytheon, together with Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace, provided support during the successful live-fire exercise of the Spanish Army of its National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS). This was the first live NASAMS firing in Spain.
The NASAMS 2 AMRAAM missile has an effective range of 7–10 km at a maximum altitude of 10 km. The AMRAAM missile offers unprecedented performance in a lightweight, cost-effective package. It uses a combination of inertial guidance, mid-course updates, and on-board active radar to find the intended target and complete the interception.
