On May 2, 2023, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) of the US Department of Defense sent a notification to the US Congress about the possible sale to Latvia through the US program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS) of one mobile coastal missile system Naval Strike Missile Coastal Defense System (NSM CDS) with anti-ship missiles NSM produced by the Norwegian Kongsberg group. This sale is approved by the U.S. Department of State. The total cost of the proposed delivery will be $ 110 million, including missiles, as well as training and technical support packages.
Distributed by the Norwegian Kongsberg group as an image of the launcher of the mobile coastal missile system Naval Strike Missile Coastal Defense System (NSM CDS) with NSM anti-ship missiles, a photo of the launcher of the Polish coastal complex with NSM missiles based on the Polish military vehicle Jelcz P662D.43 (6x6) (c) KongsbergIn July 2022, Latvian media reported that the Latvian Ministry of Defense was planning to purchase a mobile coastal anti-ship missile system and had received several offers from various potential suppliers.
In December 2022, there were reports that the choice was made in favor of a complex with NSM missiles. Apparently, now the DSCA notification indicates the final choice of Latvia in favor of the NSM CDS complex, actually jointly produced by Kongsberg and the American Raytheon Corporation. Officially, the DSCA notification states that "the general contractor has yet to be determined."
Previously, the first customers of the NSM CDS complex were the US Marine Corps and the Romanian Armed Forces. Romania in April 2021 concluded an intergovernmental agreement with the United States on the purchase of two of its batteries via FMS with a total cost of $ 286 million, with delivery by the end of 2024. In December 2022, the US Navy issued Raytheon Missiles & Defense as the general contractor a direct contract for $ 217 million for the production and supply of a set of the NSM CDS complex in Romania, with the implementation of works (technical support and training) until September 2028. At the same time, in fact, 60% of the cost of the work will be carried out by the Norwegian Kongsberg group (the production of the NSM anti-ship missiles themselves).
Prior to that, in October 2020, DSCA issued a notification about the upcoming sale of two batteries of the NSM CDS complex to Romania through the FMS line with an estimated cost of $ 300 million. According to the notification, for two batteries, a total of four Mobile Launch Vehicle self-propelled launchers, two Coastal Defense System Fire Distribution Center command posts (FCC, developed by Kongsberg based on the NASAMS SAM command post), and an unspecified number of transport-charging vehicles and NSM anti-ship missiles were to be included in the delivery.
Previously, Poland acquired coastal mobile anti-ship missile systems with NSM missiles directly from Kongsberg under a number of contracts from 2008 to 2016, which now has two divisions (batteries) of these systems (delivered in 2012 and 2017). At the end of April 2023, reports appeared that the Polish Ministry of National Defense was finalizing negotiations with the Kongsberg Group on the purchase of a new large batch of coastal mobile missile systems with NSM anti-ship missiles for the Polish Navy, while the estimated cost of the new contract would be more than 3 billion zlotys (more than 720 million dollars).
