The US Department of Defense has officially announced the conclusion of a contract with the Norwegian company Kongsberg for a contract with a fixed marginal cost of up to 141 million dollars for the supply of new Joint Strike Missile air-based anti-ship missiles. This missile is an aerial version of the well-known Naval Strike Missile, which is created using stealth technology and has a target range of up to 185 km with a warhead weight of 125 kg.
But in the aerial version of the JSM, the range of the missile is increased, according to various estimates , depending on the flight profile, up to 560 km. Also, despite the fact that the NSM was already small in size with a length of 3.48 meters (without an accelerator), its shape still had to be slightly changed.
The term of the contract is set until August 31, 2026, and the number of missiles remains unknown. At the same time, the Pentagon's budget request for 2024 indicated the intention to purchase 268 such missiles with a plan to receive them within five years, by year: 48, 50, 54, 57 and 59 missiles.
And in general, this means the beginning of the process of receiving a missile by the American aviation, which in the future should replace the well-known anti-ship Harpoon. The reasons for choosing the Joint Strike Missile are quite pragmatic – it fits into the internal weapons compartment of the F-35, which allows not to lose inconspicuousness during operations using it.
Because despite the existence of another and more long-range anti-ship missile AGM-158C LRASM, it has one drawback &ndash ; F-35 can carry it only on external pylons. And while LRASM is still a stealth missile, it can still make a fighter more visible.
It should also be noted another feature of the Joint Strike Missile – the ability to hit not only ships, but also land targets. That is, we are talking about a universal cruise missile, which also competes with the AGM-158 JASSM, on the basis of which the anti-ship LRASM was already created. But the advantage of the JSM is again that it can be placed in internal compartments.
To complete the picture, it should be added that the Naval Strike Missile has already been actively registered with the US Navy and is replacing the Harpoon. It is included in the list of armaments of the coastal zone ships of the Independence and Freedom types, and is also to be inserted into the Constellation-type frigates, the first of which was laid down in April 2024, although it will not enter service until 2029. In addition to the US Navy, it is the Naval Strike Missile that is used by the US Marine Corps in the land-based unmanned coastal defense systems NMESIS with a plan for 100 such devices.
And while the US is only deploying its new anti-ship missile, Norwegian Kongsberg will work together with by German Diehl and MBDA over Super Sonic Strike Missile (3SM) Tyrfing – supersonic long-range missile, which should replace the Naval Strike Missile.