Naval Strike Missile

Polish Navy's NSM Coastal Defense System launcher and TRS-15M Odra 3D radar in the background.

The Naval Strike Missile's initial serial production contract was signed in June 2007.[2] 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 fifty land-based missiles (including two for testing) under deals from 2008 and 2011, with delivery planned for 2013–2016.[3][4][5] The final milestone was completed in June 2011 with tests at Point Mugu.[6] On 12 April 2011, the Norwegian Ministry of Defense announced phase 2 of development.[7]

On Wednesday, October 10, 2012, the Royal Norwegian Navy marked history by firing an NSM for the first time. The vessel in question was the HNoMS Glimt, a Skjold-class patrol boat.[8] 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 munition functioned as intended.[9][10]

In June 2013 Poland completed the Coastal Missile Division equipped with 12 NSM and 23 vehicles on Jelcz chassis (inc. six launchers, two TRS-15C radars, six fire control and three command vehicles).[11] 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.[12]

Naval Strike Missile launch from USS Coronado (LCS-4) in September 2014.

In late July 2014, the U.S. Navy confirmed that the NSM would be tested aboard the littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS-4).[13] The test occurred successfully on 24 September 2014.[14] Kongsberg and Raytheon teamed to pitch the NSM to equip the LCS as its over-the-horizon anti-ship missile in 2015.[15] By May 2017, the extended-range Boeing RGM-84 Harpoon and Lockheed Martin LRASM had been withdrawn from the Navy's Over-the-Horizon Weapon System (OTH-WS) competition, leaving the NSM as the only remaining contender.[16] On 31 May 2018, the Navy officially selected the NSM to serve as the LCS' OTH anti-ship weapon. The $14.8 million initial contract award to Raytheon calls for the delivery of Kongsberg-designed "encanistered missiles loaded into launching mechanisms; and a single fire control suite,” and buys about a dozen missiles; the entire contract value could grow to $847.6 million if all contract options are exercised.[17] The Navy plans to deploy the NSM in late 2019.[18] The NSM will be designated as the RGM-184A in US service.[19]

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.[20]

In the LIMA exhibition 2015, Malaysia announced that the Naval Strike Missile had won the contract to fulfil the Royal Malaysian Navy's Maharaja Lela-class's anti-ship missile requirement.[21]

In February 2017, the Norwegian government announced that the German Navy will acquire "a significant amount" of Naval Strike Missiles under a deal valued at "more than 10 billion NOK".[22]

During RIMPAC 2018, USARPAC fired a Naval Strike Missile from the shore to sink a ship.[23]

In October 2019 the USS Gabrielle Giffords fired off a Naval Strike Missile at a surplus US Navy frigate, USS Ford (FFG-54), which was towed close to Guam, in the Pacific, to act as a target in an exercise called SINKEX.

The NSM will be used by the U.S. Marine Corps as part of the Navy/Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), which places an NSM launcher unit on an unmanned JLTV-based mobile launch platform to enable the Marines to fire anti-ship missiles from land.[24]

A naval strike missile is fired from the USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) in 2019

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 (880 lb) and have a range of more than 185 km (100 nm). NSM is designed for littoral waters ("brown water") as well as for open sea ("green and blue water") 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. Warhead initiation is by a void-sensing Programmable Intelligent Multi-Purpose Fuze designed to optimise effect against hard targets.[25]

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 (see Yaw (flight) and flight control). In 2016, it was confirmed by the Royal Norwegian Navy that NSM also can attack land targets.[26]

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 (IIR) 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.

An NSM coastal battery consists of three missile launch vehicles, one battery command vehicle, three combat command vehicles, one mobile communication center, one mobile radar vehicle with TRS-15C radar, one transport and loading vehicle, and one mobile workshop vehicle. Each MLV carries 4 missiles and can be connected to the CCV by optical fiber or radio up to 10 km (6.2 mi) away; up to 6 launchers with 24 missiles can be netted together at once.[27] When installed on ships, NSMs can be deck-mounted in packs of one, two, three, four, or six launchers. Total installation weight, including electronics and cabling, is 8,600 lb (3,900 kg) for four launchers, 17,000 lb (7,700 kg) for eight launchers, and 26,000 lb (12,000 kg) for 12 launchers.[28]

A multi-role air-launched version of the NSM is in development. This missile is called Joint Strike Missile (JSM) 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. 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.

Lockheed Martin and Kongsberg 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.[37][38] The project is funded by Norway and Australia.[39] Kongsberg signed a contract for the first phase of development of the JSM in April, 2009, which is scheduled for completion within 18 months.[40] The JSM will have multicore computers running Integrity real-time operating system from Green Hills Software.[41]

Improved features for the Joint Strike Missile include:

• Larger warhead.[42]
• Shape changed to fit in F-35 internal bay[43]
• Ability to attack sea and land based targets
• Aerial launch platform (F-35)
• Improved range over NSM, estimates include 150 nmi (170 mi; 280 km)[43] to >100 nmi low-low-low or > 300 nmi (350 mi; 560 km) hi-hi-low flight profiles[28]
• Long-term, production start in 2013

In November 2015, an F-16 Falcon successfully completed live-fire testing of the JSM at the Utah Test and Training Range.[44][45]

• Neptune
• Kh-35
• Harpoon
• AGM-158C LRASM
• Exocet
• Sea Eagle
• Sea Killer
• RBS-15
• BrahMos
• Otomat
• C-802
• YJ-12
• Type 80 Air-to-Ship Missile
• Type 88 Surface-to-Ship Missile
• Type 90 Ship-to-Ship Missile
• Type 93 Air-to-Ship Missile

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Naval Strike Missile.

• Official NSM product page at KDA
• Official JSM product page at KDA
• Defpro.com:Norway conducted very successful NSM test firing (Febr 2009)
• Missile.index search – Choose Development-Country: "Norway", then click "Search", then pick "NSM" from the results list (direct linking N/A)
• Kongsberg test fires Naval Strike Missiles – Jane's Navy International, 8 August 2006
• Capital Markets Day 2007 Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace