WASHINGTON ― Raytheon Technologies said it delivered two sophisticated NASAMS air defense systems due for Ukraine to U.S. government, which will send them to Ukraine.
“We did just deliver two NASAMS systems. ... We delivered two of them to the government a couple of weeks ago. They’re being installed in Ukraine [imminently],” Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” program
“It is a short-range air defense system, and it can fire [an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile] and it could knock down everything in the sky from drones to ballistic missiles to fighter jets,” Hayes said.
The Norwegian-developed weapons will provide medium- to long-range defense against Russian attacks, which bombarded Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure over the last two weeks, including its power grid, using missiles and drones.
The U.S. has pledged to deliver two NASAMS within weeks and six more later. Pentagon officials said it could purchase the first lot quickly because the bulk of the systems had already been produced.
U.S. President Joe Biden promised Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelensky during a call this month to expedite shipments of NASAMS amid Russia’s blitz of missiles and flying drones.
A senior Pentagon official said Monday the NASAMS were expected to be delivered “within the next couple of weeks” and that Ukraine would announce when they arrive in the country and are operational.
The U.S. military would “continue to work hard to get those there as quickly as possible,” the official said.
The U.S. has provided more than $17 billion worth of military aid since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and slapped a broad range of sanctions on Moscow.
In Raytheon’s third-quarter earnings call Tuesday, Hayes said the firm expects to see more orders of NASAMS to follow “shortly” with surging demand for the firm’s products.
“We’re also seeing significant global demand for advanced air defense systems, especially in Eastern Europe, as the Russians and Ukraine conflict unfortunately continues,” he said.
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
