KONGSBERG has signed a contract for the delivery of further JSM (The Joint Strike Missile; U.S designation AGM-184A Kraken) missiles to the US Air Force. The contract has a value of about USD 100 million. Deliveries are expected to be completed by the end of June, 2030. The JSM is a 5th generation stealth air-to surface missile, which can be carried internally in the F-35A thus ensuring the aircraft’s low-signature capabilities. The JSM is a multi-role, air-launched cruise missile under development by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and American company Raytheon Missiles & Defense. The JSM is derived from the Naval Strike Missile. The JSM has been selected by Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway and the United States.
The JSM will feature an option for ground strike and a two-way communications line, so that the missile can communicate with the central control room or other missiles in the air. This missile will be integrated with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. Studies have shown that the F-35 would be able to carry two of these in its internal bays, while four additional missiles could be carried externally. Lockheed Martin and Kongsberg signed a joint-marketing agreement for this air-launched version of the NSM, as well as an agreement committing both parties to integrating the JSM on the F-35 platform. The project is funded by Norway and Australia. The JSM will have multicore computers running the Integrity real-time operating system from Green Hills Software.
In September 2024, Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace announced that it was building a new missile production facility in James City County in Virginia. The new facility in James City County will be equipped to assemble, upgrade and repair both NSM and JSM. The NSM is an anti-ship missile with superior operational performance and high survivability against all enemy defense systems. The JSM is an air-launched strike missile designed to fulfill complex missions, such as Anti-surface Warfare (ASuW) and land attack. The JSM is designed to be deployed internal to the weapons bay of the U.S. Air Force’s F-35A, a characteristic that preserves the low observability features of the aircraft throughout any strike mission. KONGSBERG’s JSM is the only long-range precision strike munition that offers that capability.
