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The U.S. Marine Corps has signed a framework agreement with Kongsberg for the production and sustainment of Naval Strike Missile (NSM) launcher systems, with a potential value of up to $404 million.

The agreement covers launcher units, weapon control systems, ancillary equipment, and production and sustainment support. Deliveries could continue through 2034, although the full $404 million has not been ordered.

Kongsberg said individual orders will be placed through call-offs by the Marine Corps. The company will announce significant order intake when those call-offs are made. The agreement therefore sets a potential ceiling for future orders rather than representing $404 million in confirmed business.

The agreement comes as the Marine Corps expands its use of land-based anti-ship missiles as part of a broader effort to operate in heavily contested maritime areas, particularly across the Indo-Pacific. The NSM provides the Marine Corps with a mobile weapon that can threaten surface ships from land without requiring the missiles to be carried by a warship or aircraft.

Mobile Anti-Ship Weapon

The Naval Strike Missile is a long-range, high-subsonic precision-strike missile developed by Kongsberg for attacks against sea and land targets.

Kongsberg states that the missile has a range of more than 300 kilometers. It uses a passive imaging infrared seeker and Autonomous Target Recognition to identify its intended target. The missile is designed to fly at very low altitude over the sea and can perform maneuvers during its final approach.

The NSM’s sea-skimming flight is intended to make detection and engagement more difficult by keeping the missile close to the surface for much of its flight. Its passive seeker also allows the missile to detect and identify targets without relying on an active radar seeker continuously transmitting signals.

The missile is designed to operate against different types of maritime targets and can be launched from several platforms. It is already used in both ship-based and land-based configurations and has been selected by a growing number of countries.

For the U.S. Marine Corps, however, the importance of the NSM is not only the missile itself. It is the combination of the missile with a mobile launcher, remote operation, and a wider network of sensors and command systems.

NSM Forms the Core of NMESIS

The NSM is the missile component of the Navy/Marine Corps Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS.

NMESIS is a ground-based anti-ship system designed to give Marine units the ability to conduct sea-denial operations from land. The system uses a remotely operated launcher based on the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle family and carries two NSMs per launcher.

The Marine Corps describes NMESIS as a highly mobile and rapidly deployable system intended for sea denial and littoral protection. In June 2026, Marines with the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment formally received NMESIS alongside the Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, in Okinawa.

This combination is important because forward Marine units operating near coastlines can face threats from both ships and aircraft or drones. NMESIS provides the offensive anti-ship capability, while MADIS is designed to provide short-range air defense against drones and aircraft.

The two systems therefore support different parts of the same expeditionary force rather than performing the same mission.

The Marine Corps has been changing the way it plans to operate in the Indo-Pacific. Instead of relying only on large ships and aircraft to control important maritime areas, the service is developing smaller and more mobile units that can operate from islands and coastal positions.

The geography of the western Pacific makes this particularly important. The region contains large numbers of islands, narrow waterways, and strategically important maritime passages. A mobile missile unit operating from an island can use that geography to create another potential threat to ships moving through nearby waters.

The U.S. Marine Corps has been practicing this approach with NMESIS in the Philippines and other Pacific locations. During exercises in the Batanes Islands in 2026, Marines moved anti-ship missile equipment across the island chain while practicing the movement of personnel and supplies.

The exercises demonstrated how the Marine Corps can use existing infrastructure and maritime transport to move its missile forces between positions.

The concept is different from deploying a conventional coastal missile battery at a fixed location. NMESIS is designed to move, operate from temporary positions, and relocate when required. This gives commanders more options over where the missiles can be deployed and makes the force less dependent on permanent missile sites.

Wider Maritime Strategy

The NSM is also intended to complement U.S. naval and air power rather than replace it. The Marine Corps’ objective is to create a broader network of weapons and sensors that can threaten ships from different directions.

A land-based missile battery can add another firing position to that network while allowing Navy ships, submarines, and aircraft to perform other missions.

The U.S. Department of War’s fiscal 2026 weapons documentation identifies the NSM as an anti-ship missile supporting U.S. Navy and Marine Corps land and maritime interdiction missions. The document also identifies NSM as the armament of NMESIS and provides funding for additional Marine Corps missiles.

This approach reflects a wider shift toward distributed operations. Instead of concentrating combat power around a small number of large platforms, U.S. forces are seeking to spread weapons, sensors, and command systems across a larger geographical area.

For the Marine Corps, this allows relatively small units operating from islands or coastal areas to contribute to maritime operations without needing to maintain a large naval force at every location.

Mobility and Survivability

The effectiveness of NMESIS depends on more than the range of the NSM. The launcher, command system, communications network, sensors, and logistics chain all have to operate together.

The launcher can be positioned separately from the operators and connected to the broader command-and-control network. This allows Marines to receive targeting information from other sources rather than depending entirely on sensors located with the missile launcher.

That matters because a modern maritime battlefield can involve extensive surveillance. Once a missile battery reveals its position, an opposing force could attempt to locate and attack it before it can fire again.

Mobility therefore becomes an important part of the system. The Marine Corps wants its missile units to be able to move between firing positions, use temporary locations, and avoid remaining in predictable places.

The arrival of NMESIS in Okinawa shows that this concept is moving beyond testing and exercises. The 12th Marine Littoral Regiment now has both NMESIS and MADIS as part of its equipment, giving the unit land-based anti-ship and air-defense capabilities for operations in the littoral environment.

Kongsberg Expands in US Market

The new agreement also strengthens the industrial base supporting the NSM in the United States. Kongsberg began work on a U.S.-based missile production and maintenance facility in Virginia in 2026.

The company said the facility will support production of the NSM and Joint Strike Missile and is expected to begin missile manufacturing in late 2027 before reaching full-rate production by the end of 2028.

The new Marine Corps framework agreement covers production and sustainment of launcher units, weapon control systems, and related equipment. Work connected to the agreement is planned in Norway and the United States.

Maintaining a reliable supply of launchers and support equipment is important as the Marine Corps increases the number of units able to operate the system. The missile itself is only one part of the capability. Launchers, control equipment, spare parts, maintenance, and trained personnel are needed to keep the system operational over time.