According to online news provider defpro.com Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) anti-ship and land-attack missile has come a step closer to entering service with the Royal Norwegian Navy after a series-production unit of the fifth-generation missile system performed successfully during a live-fire test earlier in June.
The test firing was conducted at the USN’s Point Mugu range in California, chosen because of the location’s versatile testing conditions over land and sea.
While the NSM has previously been proposed, it is reported that Kongsberg and Lockheed Martin are developing a multi-role version of the NSM, dubbed Joint Strike Missile (JSM), which is to be integrated with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
Being air-launched, the missile will have a greater range, estimated to reach 240 kilometres.
The missile will receive significant modifications to fit into the aircraft’s internal weapons bay and will allow for engaging ground targets, in addition to naval targets.
According to the latest Defence Capability Plan, Phase 3 of SEA 5000, Australia’s Future Frigate project, which has a budget of $300m to $500 million, is for the acquisition of a naval strike weapon.
Defence has indicated it would prefer a weapon common to the land attack capability which will be installed on the future submarine and also on the Air Warfare Destroyer.
This suggests a Tomahawk TLAM-C or whatever further development of the TLAM emerges.
While the destructive and not wholly accurate effects of the TLAM, including submarine launched versions, have been widely demonstrated recently, these have been during uncontested missions where stealth and evasive manoeuvre have not been required.
There are more capable stand-off anti-ship and land attack missiles available, such as the Kongsberg NSM in its various guises, possibly including submarine launched versions.
Perhaps the favoured FMS approach to missile acquisitions may be subverted in the case of the NSM.
The 1000 lb, stealth-enhanced NSM missile uses GPS/INS guidance plus an imaging infrared seeker, in-flight data link and an automatic target recogniser (ATR).
It strikes ships or land targets with a titanium warhead and programmable fuse.