Article Posted on : - May 27, 2014

An artistic illustration of the Joint Strike Missile and the F-35 fighter. A Kongsberg photo

KONGSBERG (BNS): Norwegian defence major Kongsberg Gruppen, which has been contracted to design and develop the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) for the F-35 fifth-generation fighters, aims at completing the weapon in the next three years.

The Norwegian Government on May 23 presented a bill to the Parliament on the completion of the JSM and preparing it for integration on the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

Pending Parliament approval, for Kongsberg this entails a continuous development and finalisation of a complete product in 2017, the company said.

"We are very pleased that the Government has presented its bill as indicated in the Revised National Budget on May, 14th 2014.

"A parliament approval means completion of the JSM and preparing the product for the market," said Harald Ånnestad, President of Kongsberg Defence Systems.

The Joint Strike Missile (JSM) is being developed as a long-range stand-off missile with both land-attack and anti-ship capabilities to carry out anti surface warfare (ASuW) and naval fire support missions.

The weapon is presently being designed to be carried both externally and internally in the bomb bay of the F-35 JSF.

The missile can also be integrated on other aerial platforms and has undergone successful integration check for the F-16 and F-18 fighters as well.

Kongsberg and Lockheed Martin - the manufacturer of F-35 fighters - have signed an agreement to integrate the JSM on the advanced stealth jet.

Kongsberg has already signed contracts with the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation (FLO) in Phase one and Phase two, and later a bridge-phase contract to Phase three in November 2013.

In Phase three, the missile is scheduled to be completed and ready for serial production and flight testing.

Kongsberg sees a huge potential for future deliveries of the JSM to F-35 customers worldwide.