Johnny Støa, the Regional Marketing Director of Missile Systems at Kongsberg, has shared some exciting updates about the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) program. The NSM program has secured several significant contracts, including with the Royal Navy, Poland, and Norway.
To meet the growing demand from its customers, Kongsberg is establishing a second missile production line in Norway, which is expected to be operational by 2024. This new production line will significantly increase NSM production capacity.
Hans Kongelf, Vice President of Business Development at Kongsberg, revealed during DSEI 2023 that the new factory is projected to have an annual capacity of 400 NSMs. In the near future, there will be two production lines in Norway, one in the United States, and one in Australia. This expansion will more than meet the global and growing demand for NSMs.
Kongsberg is also exploring new markets and is currently participating in a Harpoon replacement competition in Denmark. They are also considering responding to a recent requirement issued by the Swedish Marines.
The NSM is a long-range precision strike weapon capable of seeking and destroying 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 can be launched from various platforms against a variety of targets on sea and land.
The NSM’s airframe design and high thrust-to-weight ratio provide it with exceptional maneuverability. The missile is completely passive and has demonstrated excellent sea-skimming capabilities. With its advanced terminal maneuvers, it can evade 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. It reached Initial Operational Capability on the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates and the Norwegian Skjold Class corvettes in 2012.
As of December 2022, the Netherlands became the 11th and latest customer of the Naval Strike Missile, joining the navies of Norway, Poland, Malaysia, Germany, United States (for both the US Navy and USMC), Romania, Canada, Australia, Spain and the UK.
The technical data for the NSM includes:
• 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
