Lockheed & Kongsberg Partner to Bring NSM to JSF

NSM test launch In a move that has been brewing since early 2005, Lockheed Martin and Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace just entered into a Joint Marketing Agreement to market an air-launched version of Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile, which had a pair of successful tests in California recently. This “Joint Strike Missile (JSM)” is designed to be carried and launched internally from the F-35 Lightning II fighter’s internal bays (2 missiles), or external hardpoints. The 1,000-pound, stealth-enhanced NSM missiles are a generation beyond the USA’s GM-8 Harpoon, with a 130 nautical mile operational range. The missile uses Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (GPS/INS) guidance plus an imaging infrared seeker, in-flight data link and an automatic target recognizer (ATR). Then it strikes ships or land targets with a titanium warhead and programmable fuze. NSM concept Kongsberg brings experience in anti-ship missiles, weapons integration, target recognition software and mission planning systems to the partnership. Lockheed Martin will bring its experience in air-launched missiles, target recognition software, mission planning systems, integration of weapons into fixed-wing aircraft like its F-16, F-35, F-22 et. al.; and of course, its marketing reach. A study for making adaptations to both the missile and the fighter craft is […]