USAF awards Kongsberg major contract for the supply of Joint Strike Missiles

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has finalized an undefinitized contract action (UCA) capped at $141 million with the United States Air Force (USAF) for the delivery of Joint Strike Missiles (JSM) for their F-35A aircraft. The JSM has been in development at Kongsberg since 20 years ago as a variation of the NSM (Naval Strike Missile) class “ship-to-surface” for the F-35 and is an air-to-ground strike missile designed for anti-surface warfare (ASuW) and land attack missions tailored to fit into the internal weapons bay of the F-35A. It’s equipped with flexible mission planning capabilities to allow the engagement of targets according to a predefined set of Rules of Engagement. An intelligent dual-band optoelectronic guidance system allows hitting ground and sea targets with high accuracy at ranges up to 200 km, with the possibility to correct the route and retarget the missile in flight from the carrier. Its development was overseen by the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA), and the Norwegian-American consortium Raytheon-Kongsberg is now carrying it out. According to the President of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, the JSM selection by the USAF and the Royal Norwegian Air Force strongly supports NATO’s vision for equipment interchangeability among allied nations.