Breaking news
Kongsberg showcased a Vertical Launch Joint Strike Missile (VL JSM) during AUSA 2014.
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Naval
Industry News - USA/Norway |
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Kongsberg
showcased a Vertical Launch Joint Strike Missile (VL JSM) during AUSA
2014 |
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AUSA
2014 (Association of the US Army) may be an army event (which our affiliate
website Army
Recognition was covering) an eminently naval product was showcased,
from our knowledge for the first time, at the Kongsberg booth: A vertical
launch version of the Norwegian company's anti-ship missile. |
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 The VL JSM model on display during AUSA 2014 (in the middle, with an NSM model on the left and Penguin on the right). Note the retractable wings and large booster. |
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Nobody
at the Kongberg booth at AUSA could comment on the reason why this model
was showcased at an army event, and nobody could confirm if it was the
first time Kongsberg was showing a vertical launch version of the missile.
From our own knowledge it very much was. Navy Recognition exclusively reported on the submarine launch version of the NSM back in June while covering Balt Military Expo in Poland. As for the submarine launched version, it seems like Kongsberg decided to use the JSM airframe as the base for a vertical launch missile. Specifically designed to fit inside the F35 JSF jet's weapons bay, the JSM has a smaller footprint that the NSM. This makes it obviously easier to fit inside a torpedo capsule (for the submarine launch version) or a vertical launch system (for the VL version). |
 Close up of the VL JSM logo/sticker. Notre that Lockheed Martin is mentionned in the bottom right. |
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What
triggered Navy Recognition's curiosity even further is the fact
that Lockheed Martin is mentionned on the VL JSM model. Nobody at the
Kongsberg booth during AUSA could comment on this either, but one person
admitted it was a "strange". Contacted about this one week ago,
nobody at Kongsberg got back to us yet while our contacts at Raytheon
and Lockheed Martin said they were still looking into it. It was anounced in July this year that Raytheon Company and Kongsberg Gruppen have formed a teaming agreement to provide new solutions for the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) mission. As a centerpiece of the agreement, the companies will develop the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) for air-launched OASuW applications. Why Lockheed Martin's name appears on the VL JSM is still a mistery, our own guess is that Kongsberg and Lockheed Martin are working together to integrate the missile with the MK 41 vertical launch system (made by Lockheed Martin). It has to be notted however that a VL JSM would be a direct competitor to Lockheed's LRASM Long Range Anti-Ship Missile for OASuW increment 2. To learn more: Link to JSM Joint Strike Missile anti-ship missile technical datasheet Link to LRASM - Long Range Anti-Ship Missile technical datasheet |
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