The US Navy has conducted a demonstration test firing of KONGSBERG’s Naval Strike Missile (NSM). The event took place on Tuesday September 23rd at Point Mugu test range in California.

The missile was launched from USS CORONADO of the Independence class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), and followed the preplanned trajectory towards a target ship 100 nautical miles away. When the missile arrived at the target area, it located and hit the target at the preselected hit point.

All test objectives were met, and the demonstration was very successful. The test also provided US Navy insights into the NSM’s unique capabilities of targeting, range and survivability. This is the first time a ship of this class has launched a long-range anti-ship strike missile. This is also the first time that the U.S. Navy is firing the Naval Strike Missile.

This demonstration follows a successful NSM live fire event from the Royal Norwegian Navy’s Fridtjof Nansen class frigate during the recently completed Rim of the Pacific 2014.

“We are very pleased that the US Navy evaluates the NSM missile. This contract does not however include any commitment for the US Navy beyond the test. The missile is in series production for Norway and Poland, and this test has enabled the US Navy to study it closer in a realistic scenario”, said Pål Bratlie, Executive Vice President, Kongsberg Defence Systems.

The KONGSBERG Naval Strike Missile (NSM) is a new generation long-range precision strike missile, guided with an inertial navigation system aided by a military GPS receiver and laser altimeter. The NSM with its stealthy design and unique passive infra-red and imaging sensor makes it very hard to detect, increasing the accuracy avoiding collateral damage. The NSM is multi mission (sea- and land targets) with a long stand-off range of more than 100 nm.