Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has locked in a $241 million contract to deliver a second production batch of Joint Strike Missiles to the United States Air Force. The deal, signed in December 2025 and publicly confirmed this month, cements the JSM’s position as the weapon of choice for F-35 operators who need to hit ships and hardened land targets from inside the jet’s stealth envelope. The contract covers operational missiles, launch containers, diagnostic equipment, and a logistics package, with production running at Kongsberg’s Norwegian facilities through November 2028. This is not the first order. A first tranche was procured in two phases — May 2024 and January 2025 — with deliveries due by September 2027. The Lot Two award pushes total USAF commitment to the JSM well beyond the half-billion-dollar mark.

The Only Missile That Fits

The JSM’s defining advantage is geometry. It is the only anti-ship cruise missile engineered to be carried internally by the F-35A and F-35C Lightning II. External carriage of weapons compromises the F-35’s radar cross-section — the very thing that makes the jet survivable in contested airspace. A missile that fits in the bay means the F-35 can strike a warship or a command bunker without giving up its stealth. Certification for internal carriage on both the F-35A and F-35C is expected soon. Norway, which developed the JSM as a Level III partner in the F-35 programme, has been the driving force behind the weapon’s integration.

Europe Is Buying In

The USAF contract is the headline, but the JSM is gaining traction across Europe. Germany signed a contract worth approximately €300 million in May 2026 for additional JSM missiles, building on an earlier order approved in December 2025. Belgium received U.S. State Department approval in May 2026 for a potential $236 million purchase to arm its own F-35A fleet. Japan was the first export customer, receiving its initial batch in mid-2021. Finland and Poland have also expressed interest. The pattern is clear: as F-35 fleets mature worldwide, operators want a weapon that exploits the jet’s internal carriage without compromise.

From Naval Strike to Land Attack

The JSM inherits its DNA from Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile (NSM), which is already in service with the U.S. Navy aboard littoral combat ships and future frigates. Like the NSM, the JSM uses an imaging infrared seeker with autonomous target recognition — meaning it can identify and classify targets in its terminal phase without relying on GPS or datalinks that an adversary might jam. The land-attack variant extends this capability to hardened targets ashore, following a sea-skimming or terrain-following flight profile. Combined with a reported range exceeding 550 kilometres, the JSM gives F-35 pilots a precision strike option that outranges most ship-based air defences.

What It Means

A $241 million follow-on contract is significant not just for the dollar amount but for what it signals about U.S. procurement strategy. The Air Force is investing heavily in a Norwegian-made weapon for its most important combat aircraft. That reflects both the JSM’s technical merits and the reality that no American-made alternative currently offers internal-carriage anti-ship capability for the F-35. For Kongsberg, the contract validates a decades-long bet on designing a weapon around the F-35’s internal dimensions. For the F-35 programme, it means the jet’s anti-ship mission — long a theoretical capability — is becoming an operational reality. Sources: Kongsberg, U.S. Department of Defense, Defence Industry Europe, Army Recognition, Air Force Technology