LOUISVILLE, KY. – Raytheon is set to build launchers for the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile at its facility where it constructs the SeaRAM and Phalanx close-in weapon systems, company officials told USNI News on Tuesday.
The NSM is one of three expected weapons to compete for the over the horizon missile program for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and follow-on frigate program as well as the Navy’s Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) Increment 2.
The Navy test fired a NSM from Independence-class LCS USS Coronado (LCS-4) in 2014.
Lockheed Martin’s Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) and a modified Boeing Harpoon anti-ship missile are also likely competitors for the OTH program.
Then Navy director of surface warfare Rear Adm. Peter Fanta told USNI News the service aimed to field the missile by the end of the year as part of the Navy’s distributed lethality push.
“I’m looking at a number of missiles – not just the Norwegian missile, I’m also looking at Harpoon and several other missiles. What bolts on, and what can I put on a console that has feeds from the combat system? … I’m trying to do that, again, if I can get enough engineering done to allow me to do this, I’m trying to do that this year,” Fanta said.
Last month, Raytheon announced the company had finalized a deal with Kongsberg to build the NSM in Tucson, Ariz.
