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Norway’s Kongsberg to open new Virginia
missile production plant
By Jen Judson
Sep 17, 2024,
10:06 PM
The Naval Strike Missile can launch from both land- and sea-based platforms. Norway's Kongsberg plans to build these and the Joint Strike Missile in a new Virgnia production facility. (Photo courtesy of Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace)
Norway’s Kongsberg Defence
and Aerospace is opening up a new missile
production facility in Virginia as global demand
continues to rise amid major conflicts playing out in Ukraine and
the Middle East, the company said Tuesday.
Kongsberg announced
earlier this year that it plans to expand production for missiles in Norway and
open a new missile factory in Australia.
The James City County,
Virginia, location will “provide additional production capacity, sustainment
and in-country tech refresh capabilities for Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missiles
(NSM) and Joint Strike Missiles (JSM),” the company release states.
NSM is an anti-ship
missile and JSM is an air-launched missile used on the U.S. Air Force’s F-35A
fighter jet for complex missions like anti-surface warfare and land attack.
Kongsberg already has a
U.S. production facility in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
“The new missile
production facilities in the US, Australia and Norway address the strong and
long-term demand for our unique technology and the critical need to strengthen
collective defence capabilities,” Geir Håøy, Kongsberg’s CEO, said. “Kongsberg
has a proud history in the U.S. and we are delighted to continue to invest in
the country to support American interests while creating jobs locally,” he
added.
The company noted the
decision to open the new U.S. facility “was heavily influenced by the
possibility that the Department of Defense could award a multiyear procurement contract
to Kongsberg.”
The Pentagon has pursued a
number of new multiyear
procurement contracts not usually awarded to missile programs. Earlier this year, the
Army awarded a multiyear
contract to Lockheed Martin for the Patriot Advanced Capability
Increment 3 Missile Segment Enhancement missile and plans to soon award a
similar contract for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) missile.
“The US Navy, Marine Corps
and Air Force are important customers for Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile and
Joint Strike Missile,” Eirik Lie, Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace president,
said. “Their demand signals gave us the predictability we needed to make this
investment in the United States.”
The new missile factory,
focused on assembly, upgrades and repairs for NSM and JSM, will include hiring
more than 180 people. The company will invest more than $100 million into
Virginia in the next few years “in terms of property, plant and equipment,”
Heather Armentrout, president of Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace, Inc., the
company’s U.S. subsidiary, said.
Kongsberg isn’t the only
Nordic country expanding missile production in the U.S. Saab
announced earlier this year that it would be growing its footprint
stateside with a new facility that will manufacture ground
combat weapons and missile systems.
The new site is part of a
global manufacturing push from the Swedish company to quadruple its global
capacity to produce its ground combat weapons. The new facility will support
production of programs like the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb.
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