Johnny Støa, Regional Marketing Director Missile Systems of Kongsberg, provided significant information about the latest developments of the Naval Strike Missile program.
Støa provided update with Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace on some of the latest Naval Strike Missile (NSM) contracts:
- Royal Navy (the latest contract signed in October to replace Harpoon missiles of Type 23 frigates and Type 45 destroyers, totally 11 ships)
- Poland (the biggest contract of Kongsberg including a coastal defence system based on land-based NSM)
- Norway (the contract including Norway’s additional NSM procurement)
Increasing NSM production capacity
To support the strong customer demand (with a dozen customers to date), Johnny Støa explained Kongsberg is setting up a second missile production line in Norway which will be ready in 2024. “That is adding to the capacity that we already have” Støa said.
Talking to Naval News during DSEI 2023, Hans Kongelf, Vice President Business Development at Kongsberg, explained that the new factory is expected to have an annual capacity of 400 NSM. In the near future, there will be two production lines in Norway, one in the United States and one in Australia. More than enough to answer the global and growing demand for NSM.
In terms of new markets, Naval News understands that Kongsberg is currently in a Harpoon replacement competition in Denmark and is considering to answer a recent requirement issued by the Swedish Marines.
About Naval Strike Missile (NSM)
The Naval Strike Missile is a long-range, precision strike weapon that seeks and destroys enemy ships at distances greater than 100 nautical miles. It uses Inertial, GPS and terrain-reference navigation and imaging infrared homing (with a target database aboard the missile).
The NSM is a very flexible system, which can be launched from a variety of platforms against a variety of targets on sea and land.
The airframe design and the high thrust-to-weight ratio give the NSM extremely good maneuverability. The missile is completely passive and has proven its excellent sea-skimming capabilities and with its advanced terminal maneuvers, it will survive the enemy air defenses. The Autonomous Target Recognition (ATR) of the seeker ensures that the correct target is detected, recognized, and hit, at sea or on land.
The NSM is a fifth-generation anti-ship missile, produced by Kongsberg and managed in the U.S. by Raytheon. NSM reached Initial Operational Capability on the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates and the Norwegian Skjold Class corvettes in 2012.
The Netherlands became the 11th and latest customer of the Naval Strike Missile in December 2022, joining the navies of Norway, Poland, Malaysia, Germany, United States (for both the US Navy and USMC), Romania, Canada, Australia, Spain and the UK.
TECHNICAL DATA
- Speed: 0.7 – 0.9 Mach
- Weight: 407 kg (897 lbs)
- Length: 3,96 m (156 inches)
- Multi-mission: Sea and land targets
- Range: >100 nm
- Responsive: Rapid automated mission planning – short reaction time
