During the SINKEX on July 18, the Australian guided-missile destroyer HMAS Sydney successfully fired the Royal Australian Navy’s new Naval Strike Missile (NSM) for the first time.
The NSM is a long-range precision strike weapon designed to engage both heavily defended surface ships and land targets. The highly maneuverable anti-ship missile can fly close to the water’s surface and has a range of more than 120 miles. The missile uses inertial, GPS, and terrain-based navigation, as well as an onboard imaging infrared system, to accurately home in on a target without interference from spoofing and radio frequency jamming.
In January 2023, the Australian Defense Force awarded a massive contract worth over 1 billion AUD to Norwegian defense supplier Kongsberg to acquire the new anti-ship missile to replace the aging Harpoon missile systems in use aboard the country’s Anzac-class frigates and Hobart-class destroyers.
Cmdr. David Maddison, commanding officer of HMAS Sydney, called the installation of the NSM aboard Australian warships “significant as it increases the lethality of Australia’s surface combatant fleet.”
“Being the first Royal Australian Navy ship to fire the Naval Strike Missile is an incredible privilege,” Maddison said, “but more importantly, I’m incredibly proud of the efforts of the 200 young men and women who worked tirelessly this year to introduce this capability into service.
Video footage from the recent exercise showed the NSM being fired from a launching unit aboard the Australian warship against the decommissioned Tarawa.