According to media reports, the first ship of the British Navy received a new anti-ship missile system NSM (Naval Strike Missile) produced by the Norwegian Kongsberg group. It became the F 82 Somerset type 23 frigate, which arrived on December 18, 2023 at the British naval base Devonport with two installed four-container NSM missile launchers from Norway, where these missiles were installed on this frigate in place of the removed anti-ship missile launchers at the Norwegian naval base Hokonsvern from the beginning of December Harpoon Block 1C.
Arrival in Devonport of the British Navy's F 82 Somerset Type 23 frigate equipped with two four-container launchers of new Kongsberg NSM anti-ship missiles, 12/18/2023 (c) Westward Shipping News
In fact, the Somerset frigate was converted to carry and use NSM missiles back during the visit to Hokonsvern in January 2023, but it has only now received the missiles themselves.
The British Navy stated that "HMS Somerset has received the first batch of Naval Strike missiles delivered to the Royal Navy, having reached the initial combat readiness (IOC) stage with this complex of weapons, which marked a new chapter in the offensive capabilities of the surface fleet. This milestone ensures that the fleet retains the ability to launch surface strikes after the Harpoon is decommissioned," and that "the completion of comprehensive tests will culminate in live firing and full operational acceptance in 2024."
Recall that in November 2022, the Ministries of Defense of the United Kingdom and Norway concluded an intergovernmental agreement on the adoption of the British Navy anti-ship / cruise missile NSM (Naval Strike Missile) manufactured by the Norwegian Kongsberg group and on the supply of these missiles to the United Kingdom. In the British Navy, NSM missiles are to replace the outdated American Boeing RGM-84D Harpoon Block 1C anti-ship missiles (British designation GWS 60), the final decommissioning of which was planned by the end of 2023, although, apparently, part of the service life of the latter will be extended until 2026. At the same time, the British Ministry of Defense announced that work would soon begin on installing the NSM missile system on three British ships at the same time, and that the NSM complex should reach combat readiness on the first British ship "in a little more than 12 months" - which was done.
The British Navy plans to install NSM missiles instead of Harpoon missiles on 11 active ships of the Royal Navy - Type 45 destroyers (type Daring) and Type 23 frigates - without specifying their type distribution. At the beginning of 2023, all 12 Type 23 frigates remaining in the British Fleet and three of the six Type 45 destroyers (Daring, Diamond and Duncan) were equipped with Harpoon missiles. Apparently, there are no plans to install a new missile system on part of the Type 23 frigates due to their relatively early decommissioning.
prospective 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 It is possible that the NSM missiles will eventually "move" to the new British frigates.
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 raising fears that British Navy ships would remain without anti-ship weapons for a decade from 2023. But after the outbreak of 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 anti-ship missiles 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 and Polish Navies (as part of coastal missile systems). The UK thus became the fourth actual recipient of the NSM missiles. In addition, NSM missiles have also been ordered or selected for purchase by Germany, Romania, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Latvia and Indonesia.
The NSM missile system is capable of hitting both surface and ground targets, and has a firing range with an altitude flight profile of more than 500 km.
Four-container launchers of the new Kongsberg NSM anti-ship missiles on the F 82 Somerset Type 23 frigate of the British Navy. The upper photo is at the Norwegian naval base Haakonsvern, where the NSM missiles were installed, December 2023; the lower photo is on arrival in Devonport, 12/18/2023 (c) The Norwegian Navy and Westward Shipping News