The U.S. Navy is progressing armament testing for its newly developed littoral combat ships.
Norwegian Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has been contracted for the equipment and flight test support services for the second phase of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) foreign comparative testing (FCT) demonstration test.
Back in September 2014, USS Coronado (LCS 4) performed a live-fire demonstration of a Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM) during missile testing operations off the coast of Southern California.
During the test, the Norwegian-made long range precision strike missile Kongsberg NSM was launched from the deck of Coronado and scored a direct hit on its intended target, a mobile ship target, the U.S. Navy said.
Under the latest contract, Kongsberg will supply missiles, ship equipment including deck mounted launchers, installation and integration.
Naval Sea Systems Command spokeswoman Christianne Witten told USNI News that the Navy is looking install the NSM system on USS Freedom (LCS-1) prior to her next deployment. However, due to a lack of time necessary for full NSM system integration into the ships combat system, the NSM will only receive navigational data from the ship.
The FCT Phase II program also provides for training and a training facility. This NSM FCT Phase II test effort is scheduled to be completed by the final quarter of Fiscal Year 2018 (July-September 2018).
“We are very pleased that the US Navy continues and expands the test and evaluation of the NSM missile. The NSM is operational in the Norwegian and Polish Navies from both ships and land based coastal defence. It is an off-the-shelf and non-developmental 5th generation strike missile system that can be rapidly deployed for operational use,” Harald Ånnestad, President Kongsberg Defence Systems, said