The Nato Support and Procurement Agency has awarded a €120m ($133m) contract to RTX, a prime US missile system manufacturer, to deliver laser-guidance kits for greater precision of air-to-ground munitions.

Funds were secured through the Ammunition Support Partnership (ASP) – a funding mechanism set up in 1993 comprising 28 alliance members.

This procurement method is also used to acquire munitions themselves; it is intended to “dramatically increase flexibility in stockpile management, because previously the administrative and technical process of transferring munitions could take months.”

The new deal will convert so-called ‘dumb’ bombs – conventional, unguided bombs – into precision-guided munitions using RTX’s Paveway kits.

According to the supplier, Paveway bombs made up more than half of the air-to-ground, precision-guided weapons used in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom in Iraq, as well as the 2011 Operation Unified Protector in Libya.

The latest kits innovation combines the accuracy and flexibility of traditional laser-guided weapons with the all-weather capability of GPS guidance. RTX say that this results in decreased sortie counts and weapon inventory and an increased mission success rate.

This contract is a significant contribution to the Nato industrial Capacity Expansion Pledge agreed at the Washington Summit in July 2024. It aims to accelerate defence industrial capacity and production across the alliance, and underscoring the strategic importance of transatlantic defence cooperation, with Nato serving as a “delivery enabler” for member states.

By aggregating requirements through multinational contracts, Nato offers fast solutions that enable member nations to get access to the resources they need to maintain readiness and operational effectiveness.