Euronaval Online 2020: Raytheon presents Naval Strike Missile NSM anti-ship weapon system.

On its virtual booth at the online edition of Euronaval 2020, International naval defense and maritime security industry exhibition, American company Raytheon presents the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), a long-range, precision strike anti-ship missile that seeks and destroys enemy ships at distances greater than 100 nautical miles (185 km).

Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) launches a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) during exercise Pacific Griffin. The NSM is a long-range, precision strike weapon that is designed to find and destroy enemy ships. (Picture source U.S. DoD)

The Naval Strike Missile (NSM) eludes enemy radar and defense systems by performing evasive maneuvers and flying at sea-skimming altitude. NSM uses an advanced seeker for precise targeting and carries a 500-pound class warhead with a programmable fuze.

The NSM is fully operational and in use today. The weapon was successfully launched on the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship USS Coronado in 2014 and from a mobile, land-based U.S. Army Palletized Load System truck in 2018. The Royal Norwegian Navy has it in service since 2010 on Nansen-class frigates and Skjold-class missile corvettes and it is part of Poland’s coastal defense system.

The government of Norway and Kongsberg developed the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) for the Royal Norwegian Navy as a modern, capable, lethal, and survivable anti-ship and land-attack cruise missile. NSM attained initial operational capability in 2012 and the partnership with Raytheon began in 2015.

Raytheon has teamed with the Norwegian defense company Kongsberg Defence Aerospace to bring the fifth-generation missile stateside. The company builds launchers for the Naval Strike Missile in the United States and is using its extensive supply base to build the missile and other components in the U.S. as well.

NSM’s design defeats threats, conditions, and defensive systems anticipated through 2040. It combines low observable missile technologies, a passive seeker with autonomous target recognition and a programmable fuze to achieve unsurpassed degrees of survivability and lethality. For use over land, in confined waters, in the littorals, and on the open sea. NSM has multi-domain capabilities against land and sea targets. It features a launch phase solid-propellant rocket motor booster and a sustained flight JP-10 fueled turbo-jet engine enabling more than 100 nautical mile range and high subsonic speeds.

The NSM missile has a length of 3.9 6m. It can carry a 125 kg HE fragmentation warhead for a maximum range of more than 185 km. The launch weight of the missile is 40 7kg.

The NSM is a fully developed, fielded weapon in the midrange anti-surface warfare mission area. The U.S. Navy selected NSM in 2018 as their over-the-horizon (OTH) weapon system for Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) and future frigates (FFG(X)).

The NSM features high survivability against modern and future air defense systems and potential hostile naval combatants. NSM has a low observable signature and an extremely low sea-skimming capability to avoid detection by enemy radars. It climbs and descends with the terrain and performs evasive maneuvers to counter the world’s most capable defense systems.

The NSM maximizes target damage by combining high precision with a programmable fuze. NSM has a selectable aim point on the target. The modern programmable electronic safe and arm device fuze enables select penetration of the target before warhead detonation, resulting in a controlled destruction effect.