Kongsberg Aims To Outfit Norway’s New P-8s With Joint Strike MissileLara Seligman | Aviation Week & Space Technology | Feb 1, 2017
JSM: Raytheon
As Norway prepares to modernize it submarine-hunting maritime patrol fleet, Kongsberg is looking to equip the nation’s new Boeing P-8s with its Joint Strike Missile (JSM).
The JSM is a long-range anti-ship and land-attack missile, jointly built by Kongsberg and Raytheon to equip the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The JSM is undergoing flight tests on F-16s, and Norway plans to field the new weapon on its operational JSF fleet in the 2020s. It is the only powered strike missile that fits internally on the JSF, enabling the aircraft to maintain stealth in high-threat environments.
As flight tests progress, Kongsberg plans uses beyond the F-35. JSM could also enhance the anti-surface capability of Norway’s new P-8s, which will be tasked with hunting Russian submarines and other threats in the North Atlantic, says Hans Kongelf, vice president of missile systems. Kongsberg has explored integrating the JSM on the P-8, although the company is not in formal discussions with the government about adding the capability to the maritime patrol fleet, he says.
“JSM has been designed to handle the worst-case arrested landings on carriers, so it’s a walk in the park to hang under a P-8,” says Kongelf.
The JSM is designed to take out enemy air defenses, such as sophisticated Russian S-400s, on the first day of a strike, clearing the area for large-scale attacks, Kongelf explains. JSM has sophisticated target acquisition capability against both ship and land targets, enabled by an imaging infrared seeker. It has a low radar cross-section, high maneuverability and can fly low over terrain to avoid being shot down.
On the F-35, the JSM will be a game changer for Norway, as it enables the fifth-generation fighter to prosecute both land and naval targets, say Norwegian defense officials.
“We looked into the planned capabilities of the F-35 and there was one major area where we, from a national standpoint, had a gray zone or a dark area, and that was in the long-range anti-surface warfare over land and sea,” says Maj. Gen. Morten Klever, Norway’s program director for the F-35. “JSM was the answer for that.”
While Norway is not considering placing the JSM on P-8s in the near term because the new capability will not even begin to be fielded until the early 2020s, chief of the Royal Norwegian Air Force Brig. Gen. Tonje Skinnarland calls it an option for the future.
She notes that having JSM and Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile (NSM), a similar capability designed to equip navy ships, “tremendously opens the envelope,” creating a network that will enable Norwegian forces to cover vast areas.
JSM and NSM give Norway “the ability to launch long-range precision weapons from the air and from the sea,” she says. “Obviously if the JSM should be fitted to the P-8s in the future, it will strengthen the same concept with sensor and effector capability.”
However, she warns that equipping the P-8s with JSM would make them more of a strategic target.
http://aviationweek.com/defense/kongsberg-aims-outfit-norway-s-new-p-8s-joint-strike-missile
