Global Business Press reported that the Indonesian Navy is eyeing the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) from Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to arm its current and future fast missile boats. Apart from navy officials, two Indonesian companies, PT. Lundin Industries Invest, and PT. Datareka Integrasia attended a meeting with Kongsberg in Jakarta on Wednesday. Indonesian Navy recently commissioned its first Klewang-class Fast Missile Boat KRI Golok (688) that was built and launched by PT. Lundin Industry Invest from its facility in Banyuwangi, East Java. The meeting also revealed that the Indonesian Defense Ministry plans to build 120 fast missile boats for the Indonesian Navy.
Indonesian Navy will conduct a fit and firing test of the NSM using KRI Golok (688) as its platform in the North Natuna Sea or the Indonesian part of the South China Sea. The Indonesian Navy will provide security facilities and shooting targets in the context of training, while Kongsberg will provide missiles to be tested and their firing systems. It was indicated that at least a large number of Klewang-class Fast Missile Boat will be armed with NSM. Klewang was planned to be armed with four and up to eight anti-ship missiles in enclosed launchers. According to the builder, the vessel is also able to be armed with NSM, C-705, Penguin, or Exocet missiles, and naval guns of up to 57 mm caliber without affecting the stability of the vessel.
The Klewang-class fast attack craft is stealth, wave-piercing, carbon trimaran fast attack craft built by PT Lundin Industry Invest. The second ship in the class KRI Golok was launched on 21 August 2021. According to an Indonesian Navy statement, a fast attack craft has a total length (Loa) of 62.53 meters, a width of 16 meters, a ship height of 18.7 meters, and a weight of 245 tons. The maximum speed of 28 knots, cruising speed of 16 knots. The vessel is armed with a 30 mm cannon and 12.7 mm gun and is capable of carrying 25 crew members. The vessel is also able to be armed with up to eight NSM, C-705, Penguin, Exocet, or RBS-15 MK3 anti-ship missiles in enclosed launchers and naval guns up to 76 mm caliber in a stealthy turret without affecting the stability of the vessel. She also carried an 11 m high-speed rigid-hulled inflatable boat for the special forces team.
The Naval Strike Missile (NSM) is an anti-ship and land-attack missile developed by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA). The English marketing name Naval Strike Missile was adopted later. The state-of-the-art design and use of composite materials are meant to give the missile sophisticated stealth capabilities. The missile will weigh slightly more than 400 kg (880 lb) and have a range of more than 185 km (100 nm). NSM is designed for littoral waters (“brown water”) as well as for open sea (“green and blue water”) scenarios. NSM can fly over and around landmasses, travel in sea skim mode, and then make random maneuvers in the terminal phase, making it harder to stop by enemy countermeasures.
