Royal Navy negotiating Naval Strike Missile purchase
Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) launches a Naval Strike Missile. (Photo: USN)
Shephard understands the UK Royal Navy is negotiating a purchase of the Naval Strike Missile to fill a surface lethality gap created by the imminent retirement of the Harpoon Block 1C missile in 2023.
Speaking at a hearing of the Parliament Defence Committee on 5 July, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace revealed that the UK RN had selected an interim weapon to replace the gap between the retirement of its Harpoon missiles and the introduction of the Future Cruise Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ ASW) towards the end of the decade.
Shephard understands that the RN has selected the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) and is conducting negotiations for its purchase with Kongsberg and Raytheon.
The duo partnered to offer the missile, which has been sold to the USMC and USN, for a previously scrapped RN effort
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