Royal Navy frigates and destroyers will get a significant boost
to their long-range precision strike capabilities following a new
partnership between the UK and key NATO and Joint Expeditionary
Force (JEF) ally, Norway.
Strengthening defence ties between the UK and Norway, the Royal
Navy will receive the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), outfitted on a
total of eleven Type 23 frigates and Type 45 destroyers, in a
collaboration with the Norwegian government.
Measuring nearly 4 metres long, the NSMs are a fifth-generation
missile using integrated sensors and autonomous target
recognition to precisely strike enemy ships and targets on land
at distances of more than 100 nautical miles (115 miles) at high
subsonic speeds. It can elude enemy radar and defence systems by
flying at sea-skimming altitude and using evasive manoeuvres.
Announcing the maritime capability upgrade, the Defence Secretary
also met with Northern Group Defence Ministers on board the Royal
Navy’s flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, alongside in Oslo.
Defence Secretary said:
We have a long history of defence cooperation with Norway. This
new agreement cements our partnership with one of our closest
allies, whilst strengthening our Royal Navy with a new surface to
surface strike capability.
Replacing the Harpoon surface-to-surface weapon, due to go out of
service in 2023, the world-class anti-ship missile will be fitted
to three vessels at pace and will be ready for operations onboard
the first Royal Navy vessel in a little over 12 months. The
collaboration will result in more ships equipped with the highly
sophisticated naval strike missiles which in turn will
contributes in enhancing the security in our common areas of
interest.
The missile system will be integrated in UK Dockyards through
Babcock and BAE with Norwegian support, the missile system is
manufactured by Kongsberg Defence Aerospace.
NSM will enhance collaboration and interoperability with several
of our key strategic partners. In the North Atlantic and Baltic
Sea Region users, and soon to be users, include Norway, the US,
Poland, Germany, and Canada. Both the US and Australia will
operate NSM in the Pacific region.
Norwegian Minister of Defence Bjørn Arild Gram,
said:
This is a significant task with an ambitious timeline. Both
nations have established a designated team with a strong mandate
to ensure the success of this common effort. The Norwegian
company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace is supporting the joint
team with their expertise and the planned integration on the UK
vessels.
The meeting of Northern Group Defence Ministers on HMS Queen
Elizabeth, will see discussions on the implications of Russia’s
illegal invasion of Ukraine, security developments in Northern
Europe, and Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership applications.
The Northern Group is a UK initiative which aims to promote more
coherent, efficient and effective defence and security
co-operation in northern Europe. It comprises 12 nations;
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania,
the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the UK.
