Norwegian missile nearing F-35 integration

Kongsberg has completed testing of its Joint Strike Missile in the US, with the missile designed to fit inside Norway’s future F-35A Joint Strike Fighters. This first flight test involved dropping the weapon from an F-16 at 22,000ft, with further flight testing planned over the next two years. The JSM is being co-developed by Kongsberg and Raytheon

The Naval Strike Missile is an anti-ship and land-attack missile developed by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.

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.

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.

A multi-role 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 “Joint Strike Fighter”.The F-35 will be able to carry two of these in its internal bays, while additional missiles could be carried externally.