The Naval Strike Missile is an anti-ship and land-attack missile developed by the
Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.
The original Norwegian name was Nytt sjømålsmissil; the English marketing
name Naval Strike Missile was adopted later.
Development The Naval Strike Missile's initial
serial production contract was signed in June 2007. It has been chosen by the
Royal Norwegian Navy for its new Fridtjof Nansen class frigates and
Skjold class patrol boats. In December 2008 the NSM was selected by the Polish
Navy, which ordered total 50 land-based missiles under deals from 2008 and 2011,
with delivery planned for 2013-2016. The final milestone was completed in
June 2011 with tests at Point Mugu. On 12 April 2011, the Norwegian Ministry of
Defense announced phase 2 of development.
On Wednesday, October 10, 2012, the Royal Norwegian Navy marked history by
firing an NSM anti-ship missile for the first time. The vessel in question was
the HNoMS Glimt, Skjold class patrol boat.
On Wednesday, June 5, 2013, the Royal Norwegian Navy for the first time test
fired an NSM missile carrying a live warhead against a target vessel. The
decommissioned Oslo class frigate HNoMS Trondheim was hit and the weapon
functioned as intended. In June 2013 Poland completed the
Coastal Missile Division equipped with 12 NSM and 23 vehicles on Jelcz chassis.
Ultimately, the Coastal Missile Division will be equipped with 12 launchers
carrying four missiles each for a total of 48 missiles. In December 2014 Poland
ordered a second batch of launchers and missiles to equip a Naval Strike Missile
battalion In late July 2014, the U.S. Navy
confirmed that the NSM would be tested aboard the USS Coronado Littoral Combat
Ship. Although there is no requirement for a missile of the type for the ship
classes, the Navy sought to evaluate its capabilities to see if it can expand the
LCS' anti-surface warfare role. The test occurred successfully on 24 September
2014, although that does not mean it will be integrated onto the LCS.
Kongsberg and Raytheon have teamed to pitch the NSM to equip the LCS as its
over-the-horizon anti-ship missile. During RIMPAC 2014 the frigate Fridtjof
Nansen made a successful firing of the NSM during a SINKEX, with the missile
impacting and detonating as designed. In the LIMA exhibition 2015, Malaysia
announced that the Naval Strike Missile had won the contract to fulfil the Royal
Malaysian Navy's Second Generation Patrol Vessel's anti-ship missile
requirement. Design and features
The state-of-the-art design and use of composite materials is meant to give the
missile sophisticated stealth capabilities. The missile will weigh
slightly more than 400 kg and have a range of at least 185 km. NSM is
designed for littoral waters as well as for open sea scenarios. The usage of a
high strength titanium alloy blast/fragmentation warhead from TDW is
in line with the modern lightweight design and features insensitive
high-explosive II. Warhead initiation is by a void-sensing Programmable
Intelligent Multi-Purpose Fuze designed to optimise effect against hard targets.
Like its Penguin predecessor, NSM is able to fly over and around landmasses,
travel in sea skim mode, and then make random manoeuvres in the terminal phase,
making it harder to stop by enemy countermeasures. While the Penguin is a
yaw-to-turn missile, NSM is based on bank-to-turn flight and flight control).
The target selection technology provides NSM with a capacity for independent
detection, recognition, and discrimination of targets at sea or on
the coast. This is possible by the combination of an imaging infrared
seeker and an onboard target database. NSM is able to navigate by GPS, inertial
and terrain reference systems. After being launched into the air by a
solid rocket booster which is jettisoned upon burning out, the missile is
propelled to its target in high subsonic speed by a turbojet sustainer
engine—leaving the 125 kg multi-purpose blast/fragmentation warhead to do its
work, which in case of a ship target means impacting the ship at or near the
water line. Operators
= Current operators= Norway
Royal Norwegian NavySkjold-class corvette
Fridtjof Nansen-class frigate Poland
Coastal Missile Division = Future operators=
Malaysia Royal Malaysian Navy
Second Generation Patrol Vessel United States
United States Navy Will be fitted on one Littoral combat
ship in 2016 for testing Joint Strike Missile
A multi-role version of the NSM is in development. This missile is called
Joint Strike Missile and will feature an option for ground strike and a two-way
communications line, so that the missile can communicate with the central control
room or other missiles in the air. This missile will be integrated with the
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II "Joint Strike Fighter". Studies have shown that
the F-35 would be able to carry two of these in its internal bays, while
additional missiles could be carried externally.
According to Kongsberg, this "multi-role NSM" is the only powered anti-ship
missile that will fit inside the F-35's internal bays. Lockheed Martin and
Kongsberg have signed a joint-marketing agreement for this air-launched version
of the NSM, as well as an agreement committing both parties to integrating
the JSM on the F-35 platform. The project is funded by Norway and
Australia. Kongsberg signed a contract for the first phase of development of
the JSM in April, 2009, which is scheduled for completion within 18
months. Improved features for the Joint Strike
Missile include: Shape changed to fit in F-35 internal
bay Ability to attack sea and land based
targets Aerial launch platform
Improved range over NSM to 280 km Long-term, production start in 2013
The JSM will have multicore computers running Integrity real-time operating
system from Green Hills Software. On 15 July 2014, Kongsberg and Raytheon
announced that they had formed a teaming agreement to offer the JSM to the United
States Navy for their Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare requirement;
Raytheon would produce JSMs for the American market. The Navy plans to begin
a competition for the OASuW requirement in 2017, which will likely pit the
Kongsberg/Raytheon JSM against the Lockheed Martin Long Range Anti-Ship
Missile. Kongsberg is studying methods to deploy
the JSM from Norway's submarines, and found shaping the missile to fit into
the F-35's confined bomb-bay also enabled it to fit in the Mark 41
Vertical Launching System. A VL-JSM could also compete with the Lockheed
LRASM for the U.S. Navy's OASuW Increment 2 for a ship-launched
anti-ship missile. Australia expressed interest in buying
the JSM in June 2014 to equip their F-35 fighters. The missile has also been
pitched to South Korea and Japan, and Kongsberg is expected to attempt to make
sales to other countries that have ordered the F-35A. The JSM is expected
to become fully operational in 2025. Test flights of the JSM will begin in
2015 aboard an F-16 Falcon. Development is aimed to be completed in 2017 and
achievement of initial operational capability is expected in 2021 with the
release of the F-35's Block 4 software. Fit checks have been performed on the
external hardpoints of all F-35 variants, and internally on the F-35A
and C-models. Countries that operate other aircraft have expressed interest
in the JSM, and fit checks have also been performed on the F-15 Eagle and
F/A-18 Hornet, but integration on other platforms will not be conducted without
a confirmed customer. On 15 September 2015 the Australian
government signed an agreement to finance the development of a passive
radio frequency seeker to complement the existing infrared target seeker.
In November 2015 an F-35A Lightning II successfully completed live-fire testing
of the JSM at the Utah Test and Training Range.
See also Exocet
References External links
Official NSM product page at KDA Official JSM product page at KDA
Defpro.com:Norway conducted very successful NSM test firing
Missile.index search – Choose Development-Country: "Norway", then
click "Search", then pick "NSM" from the results list
Kongsberg test fires Naval Strike Missiles – Jane's Navy International, 8
August 2006 Capital Markets Day 2007 Kongsberg
Defence & Aerospace