KONGSBERG contracted by US Navy to test NSM from Littoral Combat Ship

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Naval Industry News - Kongsberg
 
 
 
KONGSBERG contracted by US Navy to test NSM from Littoral Combat Ship
 
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS (KONGSBERG) is contracted by the US Navy to test fire KONGSBERG`s Naval Strike Missile (NSM) from the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) under the Foreign Comparative Testing program. The firing was requested by the US Navy to demonstrate the capability to engage a surface target at a range of 100 nautical miles from an LCS class ship. The test is planned to be conducted during September this year from the USS Coronado, an Independence-class LCS.
     

Kongsberg's Naval Strike Missile (NSM) launched from Skjold class corvette & Nansen class Frigate
     

This demonstration follows a successful NSM live fire event from the Royal Norwegian Navy´s Fridtjof Nansen-class frigate witnessed by the US Navy during the recently completed Rim of the Pacific 2014.

“We are very pleased that the US Navy has decided to evaluate the NSM missile. This contract does not however include any commitment for the US Navy beyond the test, but confirms NSM`s unique capabilities and the test will enable the US Navy to study it closer in a realistic scenario”, says Harald Ånnestad, President Kongsberg Defence Systems.

     
  The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Mission Modules (MM) program successfully completed the first Structural Test Firing (STF) of the 30mm gun mission module aboard USS Coronado (LCS 4) off the coast of Southern California April 30. The purpose of the STF is to challenge the ship in the most severe blast conditions of the weapon's fire. STF is a total ship test involving live weapons fire and is required for each ship class or variant.  
PACIFIC OCEAN (April 23, 2014) The littoral combat ships USS Independence (LCS 2), back, and USS Coronado (LCS 4) are underway in the Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Keith DeVinney/Released)
     

The NSM is in series production for the Norwegian Navy, the Fridtjof Nansen class frigates and Skjold class coastal corvettes, and the Polish Navy Coastal Squadron system. Deliveries for the platforms are scheduled for 2011-2014.

The NSM is the only 5th generation long range precision strike missile in existence today. The missile combines unsurpassed penetration capability due to “low observable” shape, super sea skim, high-G random maneuvers and I3R (intelligent imaging infra red) seeker with Autonomous Target Recognition (ATR) providing programmable hit-point and optimized fuze-setting,

Link to Naval Strike Missile technical datasheet

Link to Independence class Littoral Combat Ship technical datasheet