Belgium has officially announced its decision to purchase 10 NASAMS air defense systems along with 14 GM200 radars and 20 Skyranger 30 anti-aircraft gun systems for drone protection. Including Iveco trucks, the procurement will cost over €3 billion.
The decision was announced at the NATO summit in Turkiye by Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken. The programme will be implemented in cooperation with the Netherlands to protect Benelux airspace, with the involvement of local industry.
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A day before the official announcement, De Morgenreported, citing its own sources, that the 10 NASAMS batteries would cost Belgium €1.2 billion, with the first delivery expected as early as 2027. Total funding allocated for Belgium's ground-based air defense reconstruction stands at €4 billion, while earlier reports had put the combined cost of NASAMS and Skyranger 30 at €3.1 billion.
The Belgian government spent several weeks debating the use of American-origin missiles in NASAMS, but ultimately decided that the search for European alternatives would be a matter for the future. For similar reasons, the question of long-range air defense — where the choice is between Patriot and SAMP/T NG — also remains open.
Defense Express notes that Belgium's decisions on air defense systems are heavily influenced by a desire to standardise with the Netherlands, which has also selected NASAMS and Skyranger. It is therefore quite likely that Belgium will follow the same logic and choose Patriot, which is already in service with the Dutch military.
This contract also gives us an opportunity to gauge the approximate cost of NASAMS today. A rough calculation puts one battery at around €120 million — though without information on the exact configuration or ammunition inclusion, no firm conclusions should be drawn from that figure.
As a reminder, the Norwegian system uses American AIM-9X, AMRAAM, and AMRAAM-ER missiles. It is currently unknown whether the batteries will include the U.S.-made MPQ-64F1 radar or will rely on the 14 GM200 units from Thales the latter offering an open architecture that simplifies integration and a detection range of up to 250 km.
Belgium currently has virtually no ground-based air defense capability, relying on combat aviation specifically its F-16s, which are being transferred to Ukraine, and the incoming F-35s. Active programmes to rebuild this capability are therefore well underway.
Beyond large-scale systems such as NASAMS, Belgium is also procuring French Mistral 3 MANPADS and Polish Piorun MANPADS the latter having already entered service with Belgian forces.
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