Naval Strike Missile Appears in Ukrainian Service for the First Time
A photo appearing to show a truck-based launcher for the Norwegian-built Naval Strike Missile (NSM) anti-ship cruise missile surfaced on social media following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the Command of the Naval Forces of Ukraine. The NSM launcher bears a distinct shape
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A photo appearing to show a truck-based launcher for the Norwegian-built Naval Strike Missile (NSM) anti-ship cruise missile surfaced on social media following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the Command of the Naval Forces of Ukraine.
The NSM launcher bears a distinct shape in the missile canisters (with the top 2 corners rounded) and a circle present on the rear of the missile housing, allowing for identification as this particular TEL as different from the other type of anti-ship missiles in Ukrainian service. The circles on the back match 1 to 1 with previous imagery of truck mounted/coastal defense NSMs in service with Poland and published by Kongsberg.
An example of the truck mounted NSM setup, noting the circles on the back of the container. Kongsberg Image.
The introduction of NSM into Ukrainian service likely presents as the most advanced anti-ship missile in Ukraine’s arsenal, surpassing the capability of older western donated missiles and Ukrainain manufactured systems. NSM can reach targets out to +300 kilometers (~162 nautical miles) whilst possessing the capability for advanced terminal phase maneuvering, stealthy features, and a more advanced seeker head.
Delivery of NSM to Ukraine likely came through Poland, as the Polish Navy currently operates the only Coastal Defense System in Europe based around NSM. Also, Naval News had previously reported that the Polish and Ukrainian governments had initiated talks in regards to the transfer of the system, with the delivery of NSM to Ukraine likely signifying the completion of these negotiations.
NSM joins the Danish donated truck mounted RGM-84 Harpoon, the Swedish Donated RBS-15, and the Ukrainain produced Neptune to form a capable quartet of anti-ship missiles to perform coastal defense. However, it remains unknown the exact quantity of of launch/command vehicles or missiles that Ukraine has received.
Beating the Russian Black Sea Fleet
A poster in Ukrainian Naval headquarters showing assessed losses amongst the Russian Black Sea fleet. Screenshot from @ZelenskyyUa on X.
Despite loosing its small Navy in the Black Sea in the opening days of the Russian invasion, Ukraine has continually shown prowess in forcing the retreat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet (BSF), with the Russian vessels ultimately relegated to near irrelevancy at the current stage of the conflict.
Russian Warships would begin the conflict operating near Ukrainian held territory, both outlying islands and the proper Ukrainian coast, but would begin to retreat following the loss of the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship, the Slava-class cruiser Moskva in April of 2022. The loss of the Moskva reportedly came at the hands of 2 Ukrainian Neptune AShMs, with a support tug claimed as targeted later in the conflict by Harpoon AShMs.
Losses for the BSF would continue to mount even as they pulled back to Sevastopol in Russia occupied Crimea, with Ukraine employing long range strike weapons such as the Franco-British supplied Storm Shadow ALCM and home-build Unmanned Suicide Drones to target and harass the BSF in and out of port. Eventually, the BSF would begin the slow exodus to the port of Novorossiysk on the Russian coast on the Black Sea where most of the remaining fleet currently resides.
Now, the BSF has been sentenced to constant aerial, surface, and subsurface drone attacks even in their home port, even if the Russian vessels have long since exited the range of Ukrainian AShMs. As such, future of the BSF remains in limbo as Ukraine continues to hound the Russian vessels, with Novorossiysk viewed as the farthest practical option for the fleet’s basing. Naval News has previously covered the ongoing Ukrainian strike campaign on the Russian BSF in-depth here.
