Norway's Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace is setting up a subsidiary in Ukraine and plans to set up a joint venture with Ukrainian industry to produce anti-aircraft missiles for the NASAMS air defense system. The company's president, Eric Lee, spoke about this in an interview with Euractiv.
Here are the main points of the interview:
- Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace is currently in close talks with Ukrainian industry to set up a joint venture.
- The main task is to produce missiles for our air defence system in Ukraine using Ukrainian technology. We are talking about mass production of missiles, i.e. hundreds of them.
- The joint venture is expected to be established within a few months.
- According to Li, after the end of a full-scale war, the country can become part of the supply chain for missiles for air defense systems.
- Ukraine can become an important hub in the production of missiles for the global market.
- Kongsberg is keen to establish a foothold in Ukraine and exploit its potential for the global defense sector.
In January this year, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov met with Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace CEO and President Erik Lee and announced the expansion of the cooperation. At that time, it was announced that the company was considering the possibility of integrating Ukrainian air defense equipment into the Norwegian NASAMS system.
NASAMS is a short- and medium-range air defense system that protects against drones, helicopters, cruise missiles and fixed-wing aircraft. It is capable of firing 72 missiles in 12 seconds.
