Naval Sea Systems Command recently awarded Raytheon Technologies [RTX] a $209 million Foreign Military Sales contract for a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) Coastal Defense System for Romania.
The contract was awarded on Dec. 22 but the Defense Department announced the order on Jan. 5.
The contract includes options that, if exercised, would raise the total value to over $217 million.
The NSM is billed as a long-range precision anti-ship cruise missile that can hit enemy ships at up to 100 nautical miles away while flying at sea-skimming altitudes to avoid detection. The missile was originally developed by Norway’s Kongsberg, which is now working with Raytheon to integrate an Over The Horizon (OTH) capability for U.S. Navy purposes.
Work is set to be split among Kongsberg, Norway (60 percent); Tucson, Ariz. (34 percent); Schrobenhausen, Germany (two percent); Raufoss, Norway (one percent); and various locations each less than one percent (three percent). The work is expected to be finished by September 2028.
This award comes over two years after the State Department approved a $300 million FMS sale to Romania for the NSM Coastal Defense System, in October 2020 (Defense Daily, Oct. 16, 2020).
That approval also covered up to 10 Link-16 Multifunctional Information Distribution System – Joint Tactical Radio Systems, two Coastal Defense System Fire Distribution Centers; four Mobile Launch Vehicles; Transport Loading Vehicles; and an undisclosed amount of Naval Strike Missiles.
At the time, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Romania would use this system to improve its Black Sea maritime defense capabilities and interoperability with the U.S.
In 2015, Kongsberg and Raytheon announced a teaming agreement to cooperate on the Naval Strike Missile (Defense Daily, April 8, 2015).
This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with U.S. Code regulations related to an international agreement.
Beyond the U.S. and now Romania, other buyers of the NSM include Australia, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Poland, Spain and the U.K.
The U.K. recently announced it will outfit 11 Type 23 frigates and Type 45 destroyers with Naval Strike Missiles starting in 2023 (Defense Daily, Nov. 29).