Norwegian Contracts Launch NSM Missile
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“Lockheed & Kongsberg Partner to Bring NSM to JSF” covered Kongsberg’s stealthy new Naval Strike Missile (Nytt SjomalsMissil), which continues its development and testing program. NSM has definite market potential as an internal carriage option for nations buying the F-35 Lightning II, but this long-range complement to their popular Penguin short-range anti-ship missile also had a more immediate option closer to home. Norway intends to deploy them as ship-launched missiles for their Skjold Class ground-effect catamarans, and eventually for their new Fridjof Nansen Class AEGIS frigates as well.
The market for anti-ship missiles is a crowded one. Aside from a bevy of Russian subsonic and supersonic offerings, naval buyers can choose Boeing’s BGM-84 Harpoon, China’s YJ-82/C-802 Saccade, MBDA’s Exocet, Otomat, or Marte; RAFAEL of Israel’s Gabriel, Saab’s RBS15, and more. Despite an ongoing shift toward supersonic missiles, Kongsberg chose not to go that route. So, how do they expect to be competitive in a crowded market?
Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile
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The 1,000-pound, stealth-enhanced NSM missiles are a generation beyond the USA’s GM-84 Harpoon, with a 130 nautical mile operational range. The missile takes advantage of radar shaping to make radar detection difficult, and flies using Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (GPS/INS) guidance plus an imaging infrared seeker and an automatic target recognizer (ATR). An in-flight data link makes it reprogrammable in flight, if its target disappears or a higher priority threat appears. Once it locks on, it strikes ships or land targets with a titanium warhead and programmable fuze.
In order to speed deployment, Kongsberg and the Norwegian government have always envisaged an overlap between the NSM’s development phase and its production phase, referred to as the transition phase. That phase related to the Armed Forces’ commitments to Navantia, with a view to scheduling the NSM’s phase-in on the 4th vessel of Norway’s new Nansen Class AEGIS frigates.
The air-launched “Joint Strike Missile (JSM)” variant is designed to be carried and launched internally from the F-35 Lightning II fighter’s internal bays (2 missiles), or external hardpoints. The prospect of stealth-enhancing internal carriage, plus out of the gate integration with the F-35 Lightning II, could also give the JSM an entry hook for F-35 customers; Kongsberg adds that the adaptation study is being funded by Norway and Australia. Other potential JSF-linked buyers may include Denmark, The Netherlands, Turkey, et. al.
Kongsberg’s JSM development partner Lockheed Martin has a similar air-launched land-attack product in its AGM-158 JASSM, and other competitors exist from MBDA’s Storm Shadow/Scalp, to EADS/KEPD’s Taurus to Boeing’s anti-ship and land attack SLAM-ER.
Contracts and Key Events
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April 27/09: Kongsberg Gruppen anounces a NOK 166 million (about $25 million) contract with the Norwegian Defence Procurement Division for the first phase in the development of the Joint Strike Missile. The contract is scheduled to run over the next 18 months.
Feb 2/09: Kongsberg announces a successful test firing of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM):
“Fired at the Pt. Mugu artillery range in the US state of California, the missile completed the planned trajectory prior to striking the target ship. During its flight, the missile conducted a large number of advanced manoeuvres that clearly place it far ahead of competing systems.”
May 25/07: In the largest order Kongserg has landed to date, the firm signs a NOK 2.746 billion (about $466.4 million) contract with the Norwegian Armed Forces’ Logistics Organisation for serial production of the new Naval Strike Missile (NSM). This includes the transition contract for NOK 200 million (about $34 million).
This contract covers the production of NSMs for Norway’s Nansen Class AEGIS frigates, and Skjold Class catamaran-hovercraft fast attack craft. Production under this contract will run until 2014, and will ensure employment for 200 – 250 individuals in Kongsberg, as well as work for nearly 120 of their 1400 Norwegian subcontractors in Akershus, Buskerud, and Oppland counties. Tom Gerhardsen, president of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, adds in the firm’s release that the contract will also:
”...give us the references we need to sell the missile to other countries’ naval defence forces. Several countries have already indicated an interest in the NSM.”
Jan 31/07: Lockheed Martin and Kongsberg sign a a joint marketing agreement for an aircraft-version of the new Naval Strike Missile (NSM), to be known as the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) and adapted for deployment on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. A study for making adaptations to both the missile and the fighter craft is already in progress, funded jointly by Norway and Australia. It is expected that the adaptations will take 3 years to reach the technological maturity required for deployment on the F-35. Read “Lockheed & Kongsberg Partner to Bring NSM to JSF” for more.
Jan 15/07: Kongsberg announces 2 more successful NSM test firings in California, USA, as part of the Norwegian Navy’s final approval of the development phase. The tests were conducted in the U.S. because the Americans have a test firing range that allows the missile to be tested over land and sea alike, which is essential for testing several of the missile’s functions.
Aug 2/06: Kongsberg announces a pair of successful NSM missile tests in California, on April 1/07 and July 21/06.
The test firings are part of the Norwegian Navy’s final approval of the NSM development phase. The test was conducted in the U.S. because the Americans have a test firing range that allows the missile to be tested over land and sea alike.
Dec 13/05: Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace attempts to fire an NSM missile at a testing facility in France, but the test is aborted before the missile left the launcher due to a malfunction in the launcher’s systems.
A successful test is required before the project can enter the final part of the development phase, in which the missile system’s performance and functionality will be verified against the contract specifications issued by Norway’s Armed Forces’ Logistics Organisation. Kongsberg’s release says that the missile’s schedule will be unaffected.
April 26/04: In Recommendation No. 54 to the Storting, the Government asks the Storting (Norway’s parliament) for authorization to sign a contract for the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) transition phase. The contract is valued at approximately NOK 200 million.
Full implementation of the production phase will be initiated only upon formal completion of the development phase and be based on a decision by the Storting at a later date. At this point, development phase is scheduled for completion in late 2005. Kongsberg release.
Additional Readings
- DId Spotlight – F-35 Lightning II Wins Dogfight in Norway
