On November 23, 2022, the Ministries of Defense of Great Britain and Norway announced the achievement of an intergovernmental agreement on the adoption of the NSM (Naval Strike Missile) anti-ship missile manufactured by the Norwegian Kongsberg group and on the supply of these missiles to the UK. In the British Navy, the NSM missiles are to replace the outdated American Boeing RGM-84D Harpoon Block 1C anti-ship missiles (British designation GWS 60), the final removal of which from the British Navy ships is scheduled by the end of 2023.
Artistic image of the launch of the Kongsberg NSM anti-ship missile from the Type 23 frigate of the British Navy (c) www.navylookout.comThe British Navy announced that they plan to install NSM missiles instead of Harpoon missiles on 11 active Royal Navy ships - Type 45 destroyers (type Daring) and type 23 frigates - without specifying their distribution by type.
Currently, Harpoon missiles are equipped with all 12 remaining Type 23 frigates in the British Fleet and three of the six Type 45 destroyers (Daring, Diamond and Duncan). Apparently, it is not planned to install a new missile system on part of the Type 23 frigates due to their relatively soon decommissioning. The British Ministry of Defense announced that work will soon begin on installing the NSM missile system on three British ships at the same time, and that on the first British ship, the NSM complex should reach combat readiness "in a little more than 12 months."
Promising British frigates of types 26 and 31 are planned to be armed with a new anti-ship and cruise missile, created by the MBDA association as part of the joint British-French FC/ASW (Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon) program, however, since its entry into service is now considered possible no earlier than the early-mid 2030s, then it is possible that the NSM missiles will eventually "move" to the new British frigates.
The Kongsberg group itself welcomed the decision of the UK Ministry of Defense, but stated that it "cannot provide any additional comments on the potential size of this contract."
The issue of replacing the Harpoon Block 1C missiles purchased in the 1980s (the beginning of deliveries in 1984) in the British Navy has been dragging on for a long time, causing work to extend the service life of the Harpoon until the end of 2023. In March 2019, the British Navy launched the Interim Surface-to-Surface Guided Weapon (I-SSGW) program to select a "temporary" anti-ship missile to replace Harpoon missiles before the FC/ASW missiles entered service. The same NSM was considered the favorite for the I-SSGW program, but at the end of 2021, the I-SSGW program was canceled for financial reasons, once again causing fears that the ships of the British Navy will remain for a decade without anti-ship weapons from 2023. But after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the convincing success of anti-ship missiles in it, the British Ministry of Defense secretly resumed the project of "urgent" purchase of a missile defense system to replace Harpoon.
The NSM missile has been in service with the Norwegian Navy since 2012, and has now also been acquired by the US Navy (to equip LCS ships) and Poland (as part of coastal missile systems). In addition, NSM missiles have also been ordered or selected for procurement by Germany, Romania, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, Spain, and now the UK.
