Kongsberg awarded $960 million missile contract
Littoral Combat Ship USS Gabrielle Giffords launches an NSM, a key weapon for the ship.. (Photo: USN)
The contract could rise to as much as US$1.1 billion and follows an announcement last month that Kongsberg was building a missile production facility in the US to meet burgeoning global demand.
Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace has been awarded a NOK10.7 billion (US$960 million) contract to supply Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) to the US Navy (USN) and US Marine Corps (USMC).
The contract includes an option which could take the value up to NOK12 billion.
The NSM is central to the USN’s Over-the-Horizon Weapons System (OTH-WS) programme and is being installed on Littoral Combat Ships and Constellation-class frigates. Kongsberg is also delivering NSM to the USMC as a key component of its Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System Programme.
In September the company said the new facility would be near a USN base in James City County, Virginia and would also make Joint Strike Missiles. Earlier in the same month the company officially opened a facility for missile manufacture in Adelaide in South Australia.
Eirik Lie, president of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, said the large order would provide the company and suppliers with stability.
“This contract is an example of the strong demand we see for our strike missiles across NATO and allied nations, which is why we this year have opened a new missile factory in Norway and announced two facilities in Australia and the US,” Lie noted.
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