Aerospace company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency have signed a cooperation agreement for the naval strike missile (NSM).
The Nkr220m ($26.96m) contract is set to continue for one year and represents the first phase of the latest industrial cooperation between Norway and Germany.
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It follows a strategic industrial cooperation that was signed by the governments of Norway and Germany in February last year, which covered the acquisition of new submarines and NSMs.
The German Navy intended to buy a number of NSMs from Kongsberg for integration on-board its naval vessels as part of the initiative.
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace president Eirik Lie said: “This contract is an important milestone in a long-term Norwegian-German cooperation on missiles.
“The NSM is a product of the unique triangle cooperation developed between the defence industry, the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) and the Armed Forces.”
Kongsberg’s NSM is currently the only fifth-generation long-range precision missile in the world and features passive sensor technology and low radar signature.
The missile is a flexible system that can be easily launched from a wide range of platforms against a number of different targets.
The NSM is a completely passive missile that has been equipped with enhanced sea skimming capabilities.
It is able to perform advanced terminal manoeuvres that allow it effectively evade enemy air defences.
In addition, the seeker’s Autonomous Target Recognition (ATR) enables precise detection of the correct target, both at sea and on land.
The US Navy previously selected the NSM, offered by Raytheon and Kongsberg, as its new over-the-horizon weapon for littoral combat ships (LCSs) and future frigates in June.
