Raytheon conducts flight test of short-range air-defence system

Raytheon Australia has conducted a flight test of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia. The above picture shows NASAMS from a live-fire exercise in the US. (Kongsberg)

Raytheon Australia has conducted a flight test of a short-range ground-based air-defence (SRGBAD) system at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia, the company said in a press release on 20 June.

According to Raytheon, the “successful” flight test demonstrated the SRGBAD system's “accuracy and capability” to detect, track, and engage with targets.

The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) is procuring an SRGBAD system under Project Land 19 Phase 7B.

The project achieved first pass government approval in February 2017. In April 2017 Raytheon was appointed as the sole contractor to develop the SRGBAD system.

Raytheon collaborated with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) to develop an ‘Australianised' version of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) in order to meet the SRGBAD requirement.

The project achieved second pass government approval in February 2019 and the DoD signed a contract worth AUD2.5 billion (USD1.7 billion) with Raytheon Australia in March 2019 to procure NASAMS.

The project includes the acquisition of radars, missile launchers, and command-and-control systems, as well as integration with existing army vehicles and radios.