Australia will invest 850 million Australian dollars in setting up a new plant, in cooperation with Kongsberg, that will produce Naval Strike Missiles and Joint Strike Missiles. It will be the first plant to do so outside of Norway, Kongsberg’s home country.

The factory, which will employ 100 people, will be built at the Newcastle Airport in New South Wales. Both weapons have a strategic role to play in Australia’s plans: the JSM will be an important part of the F-35A’s arsenal, while the NSM is destined to equip the Royal Australian Navy’s surface ships as well as missile batteries of the Army.

The Royal Australian Navy has recently fired a NSM for the first time, when the air defence destroyer HMAS SYDNEY launched one in late July during exercise RIMPAC 2024. The target in the occasion was the Ex-USS TARAWA LHA1, which was sunk during the exercise. In the Navy, the NSM will replace the HARPOON missile. Mobile launchers for NSM missiles are expected to become part of the Army’s own arsenal, with Thales and Kongsberg proposing the “Strike Master”, a BUSHMASTER vehicle modified to launch 2 NSMs.

While the Royal Australian Air Force has still not given a formal confirmation of its intent to procure JSM for its F-35A, we can consider this a done deal. Interest for the weapon dates back multiple years. It was almost a decade ago that Australia got involved with the JSM, with BAE Systems Australia eventually securing a role in 2017 as provider of the secondary, passive Radio-Frequency seeker that now equips the missile, in support to the primary Infrared seeker.

Kongsberg Australia works alongside local companies such as Marand, Aerobond, Australian Precision Technologies, Nupress Group, Axiom Precision Manufacturing and Stahl Metall. With the funding of this project, the Commonwealth of Australia is moving another important step in the context of what it calls Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise, an initiative to ensure that strategic weapons can be manufactured and serviced in-country. Before Kongsberg, the Enterprise had already concluded important deals with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, relating to GMLRS rockets and Standard anti-air missiles in particular.

Construction of the plant will start later this year for delivery in 2026. Production should be able to begin in 2027 following certification, and from 2028 it is expected to have a Full Rate Production capability of up to 100 missiles per year.

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