Kongsberg Defence Australia (KDAu) has signed a contract with the Commonwealth of Australia to establish Australia’s first missile manufacturing factory in Newcastle, NSW. In August 2024, it was known that KDAu would build a new missile factory near Newcastle Airport to produce both Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) and Joint Strike Missiles (JSM).
"This is a huge milestone for Kongsberg in Australia, with the Kongsberg Missile Factory (KMF) expected to employ around 100 people in Newcastle. KONGSBERG will be the first company to build a missile factory in Australia, and that is something that we are all very proud of. The facility will be based on the new missile factory in Norway, the most advanced missile manufacturing facility in the world. We will be building and maintaining some of the ADF’s most important strike weapons; a huge privilege that comes with great responsibility," Managing Director of KDAu, John Fry, said.
The contract has followed on from the Commonwealth of Australia’s decision to invest in the construction of a new factory to manufacture and maintain the KONGSBERG Naval Strike Missile (NSM) and Joint Strike Missile (JSM) for the Australian Defence Force and international partners.
"The factory in Australia will be the first missile factory outside of Kongsberg, Norway, to manufacture both NSM and JSM, and it will be followed by a similar facility in the United States. The three KONGSBERG factories will support Europe, North America and the Indo Pacific regions to meet the strong international demand for the NSM and JSM, both fifth generation strike weapons," Executive Vice President Missiles & Space for Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, Øyvind Kolset, asserted.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2026 with missile manufacturing commencing in 2027.