Kongsberg Signs $472M Deal to Supply Joint Strike Missiles to New Customer

Kongsberg has signed a 4.7-billion Norwegian krone ($472-million) contract to supply Joint Strike Missiles (JSM) to an undisclosed customer.

Without stating specific information, the Norwegian defense company announced that it was a new customer set to become the sixth country to acquire the JSM for its fighter fleet.

JSMs are already in service or in order by Norway, Japan, Australia, the US, and Germany, which was designated as the fifth customer of the cruise missile and placed an additional JSM order in May.  

Derived from Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile surface-launched weapon, the air-launched JSM is capable of precision strikes at long ranges. 

The 13-foot (4-meter) fifth-generation missile was specifically engineered to fit internally in the weapons bay of the F-35A and F-35C Lightning II fighter jets, preserving the aircraft’s low-observable profile.

Weighing around 917 pounds (416 kilograms) and carrying a 118-kilogram (260-pound) warhead, the JSM can achieve ranges up to 217 miles (350 kilometers) at high subsonic speeds.

It uses an inertial navigation system, terrain-reference navigation, an imaging infrared seeker, and a two-way network data link, enabling it to continue operations in GPS-denied environments.