And the Canadian Navy has selected NSM on its Type 26-based Canadian Surface Combatant in combination with longer-range Tomahawk cruise missiles. Closer to home, Malaysia plans to integrate the NSM with a new class of corvettes/LCS based on Sweden’s radical Gowind class design it is building for service entry from 2023. Norway has also recently ordered more NSM for service from its Skjold class corvettes and Fridtjof Nansen class Aegis frigates, while Germany will replace the AGM-84 Harpoon with the NSM on its F124, F125, and F126 class frigates. Poland declared an initial operational capability of its NSM-based NDR-MW system in 2015. The system also includes mobile weapons control vehicles and command vehicles, mobile TRC-15C radars, and dedicated transport and loading trucks, and have been successfully integrated with Polish Jelcz 6×6 and 8×8 vehicles. The Polish Navy has deployed its NSMs with its Nadbrzeżny Missile Squadron (NDR) in a Baltic Sea coastal defence role from fixed and mobile cannisters. A Polish NDR battery on the Baltic coast. The US Marine Corps has also conducted a number of trials with NSMs mounted on an uncrewed joint-light tactical vehicle (JLTV) chassis dubbed Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction Systems (NMESIS), including participating in a ship sinking exercise (SINKEX) in August 2021. The US Navy has employed its NSMs in forecastle-mounted cannister launchers on its Independence class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) forward-deployed to Singapore and the Indo-Pacific regions. The 1000lb-class NSM and JSM both feature ship class identification through Autonomous Target Recognition (ATR), and both are highly-survivable through the use of passive sensors and selectable highly-agile flight profiles in the terminal phases of flight. JSM can be carried both in the weapons bay and externally on the F-35A and F-35C models. NSM can be launched from a compact cannister launcher on a ship deck or truck, and a development program is underway to integrate the NSM with the Sikorsky MH-60R helicopter.
The NSM and JSM feature similar internal systems, but have different airframes more suited to their respective launch and flight profiles.
A USMC NMESIS system comprising an uncrewed JLTV vehicle and twin NSM launch cannisters. The NSM has a range in excess of 250km, whilst the JSM’s range is dependent on its flight and launch profile, and both are low-observable weapons capable of “high-subsonic” speed at low altitude. This is in addition to four current and three planned operators of the surface-launched NSM, including the US Navy/Marine Corps, Royal Norwegian Navy, Royal Malaysian Navy, Canadian Navy, and the Polish Navy. The Finnish Air Force will be the third customer for the JSM after the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) and Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), both of which will also employ it from the F-35A.
That said, Tokyo also plans to acquire the Lockheed Martin AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile – Extended Range (JASSM-ER) and the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) to meet a requirement for air-launched stand-off missiles for the JASDF’s multirole fighter aircraft.Ī Japanese MoD official had told Janes in January that Tokyo is looking to procure those weapon systems from the United States “as soon as possible” for fitment onto JASDF F-15J Eagle fighters to enhance the platforms’ capabilities to effectively counter attacks at longer ranges.The KONGSBERG Naval Strike Missile and Joint Strike Missile (NSM /JSM) family of surface and air-launched anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles is steadily growing its customer base, with Finland being the latest to nominate the air-launched JSM for its planned Lockheed Martin F-35A fighters. It also budgeted JPY7.9 billion in FY 2019, and JPY13.6 billion in FY 2020 for JSM procurement. In fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018) Tokyo allocated JPY2.2 billion (USD20.8 million) to the JASDF for the acquisition of air-launched stand-off missiles, including JPY2.16 billion for the purchase of JSMs. The move came after Kongsberg announced in March 2019 that it had signed a contract to provide an undisclosed number of “initial” JSMs for Japan’s F-35A fighters. In November 2019 manufacturer Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace announced that it had signed a NOK450 million (USD49.2 million) follow-on contract to provide additional JSMs for the JASDF’s F-35As. The missiles, which have been designed to fit in the internal weapons bay of the F-35A, have a range of about 500 km and can thus be launched from a stand-off distance. An image provided by the Japanese MoD showing a model of the JSM.