The US Navy’s new attack missile is designed to have low visibility against enemy radars. In addition, it is also capable of flying close to the sea to avoid radar waves. The weapon is a threat to China’s maritime ambitions.
Outstanding Features
The US Navy’s Attack Missile (NSM) is mounted on a battleship and is capable of evading the enemy’s long-range radar. This rocket is 4m long and weighs 400kg. It has a solid-fuel rocket booster system in the launch phase and a JP-10 turbo-fuel engine for the long flight phase, which then helps the rocket reach speeds from 864 to 1,110.4 km/h.
The NSM has a programmed detonator and a 125kg fragmentation warhead, with pre-explosion penetration for maximum destructive effect.
The NSM is specially designed to have a low level of identification before enemy radar and has a flight mode close to the sea surface to evade enemy radar.
Experts say this is a very powerful weapon, even in the Taiwan Strait or in the East Sea, in general, anywhere there are surface ships.
The NSM’s sensors and stealth characteristics make it capable of hitting a designated target.
According to Naval Recogntition, “the missile climbs and descends according to the terrain, and can perform maneuvers to evade the world’s most advanced defensive radar systems.”
“NSM possesses the ability to receive targets to the entire class of ships – a crucial trait for fighters who want to hit specific, selected targets in an environment facing many obstacles from the enemy.”
The US Navy promotes NSM . equipment
Taking all that into account, it’s not surprising that the US Navy is maximizing its “multi-domain” combat capabilities by equipping this NSM with littoral combat ships (LCS).
Navy officials hope to reach a new level of attack by improving the connectivity of the new weapon with other weapon systems and with command and control technologies, as well as “nodes” ” operate within a broader maritime warfare network.
Officer Jason Kipp, program manager, said: “We have demonstrated the functionality of the NSM and are improving the interoperability for more missiles. We are integrating it with the combat system”.
NSM is the result of cooperation between the arms corporations Raytheon and Kongsberg. This missile is capable of firing up to 100 nautical miles (more than 185Km), according to expert Kris Osborn.
NSM is also deployed on 10 frigates and missile boats of the Norwegian navy and will be deployed on 15 Canadian Type 26 frigates, German frigates, and 8 Malaysian Lela-class frigates .
Aim for China
It is no coincidence that the US Navy wants to equip this type of missile for its surface warships. Weapons like these will help US warships increase their reach and ability to fight in the deep sea – something China fears.
Kipp affirmed that the US Navy is accelerating the installation of this missile for all Independence variants of the LCS in their service.
According to Kipp, the prospect of the NSM has also prompted the US Marines to want to own a shore-based anti-ship missile (GBASM).
This series of GBASM missiles will combine a variety of tactics to provide simultaneous combat capabilities at sea, in the air, and on land, including the ability to strike from sea to shore and opposite.
This type of dynamic tactic would be applied to the not-too-distant island ranges similar to those in the South China Sea .
The above scenarios will likely become the rationale for the light amphibious assault ship being developed by the United States to pick up and transport marines and their weapons quickly, neatly, and overview.
Currently US nearshore warships rely on 57mm guns and Hellfire missiles that are only capable of hitting targets a few miles away. For the United States, this is a drawback to smaller Chinese, Iranian, and Russian ships that can carry very powerful anti-ship missiles with ranges of several tens to even hundreds of miles.
Prepared US Navy admiral Casey Moton said, with these new adjustments, the US adversary will no longer be able to ignore US LCS ships.