Kongsberg press release
The first ship class to be equipped with NSM is the F-110 class frigate, which is currently under construction by Navantia. The missiles are intended to be deployed on the F-100 frigates during their Mid-Life Update, as well as on future ships.
The Spanish Navy, which selected NSM in 2022, is acquiring the missiles through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). This is the first missile contract for Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to be handled by NSPA.
KONGSBERG will, in parallel, sign a cooperation agreement Directorate General for the Armament and Material (DiGAM) as a foundation to develop an industrial plan that will maximize Spanish industry cooperation and involvement. This includes the possibility to become part of the global missile supply chain, and a proposal for the establishment of a full life cycle maintenance capacity for NSM at the Rota naval Base, in coordination with local industry.
KONGSBERG expects that the contract will provide a regional foothold for their missile programs, and the parties hope that the contract involving Spanish Navy, KONGSBERG and NSPA will contribute to further cooperation between all the NATO members that use NSM.
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Naval News comments:
This contract marks Kongsberg’s first missile contract managed by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), signaling a significant milestone in for the highly successful NSM program with NATO forces.
Latvia is the latest NATO country to join the “NSM club”. The anti-ship missile has been selected so far by the navies of Norway, Poland, Malaysia, Germany, United States (for both the US Navy and USMC), Romania, Canada, Australia, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium.
This success prompted Kongsberg to increase its production capacity for the missile. Here is our recent video coverage on this topic: