Special Report: StrikeMaster development progresses

StrikeMaster is a land-based maritime strike platform, which features Kongsberg's NSM fired from Thales Australia's Bushmaster vehicle. (Thales Australia)

Kongsberg Defence Australia and Thales Australia are moving closer to finalising the development of StrikeMaster, their jointly developed land-based maritime strike platform.

The system, which integrates the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM) onto a flatbed utility version of Thales Australia's Bushmaster protected mobility vehicle (PMV), is bidding for Australia's Land 8113 Phase 2 programme to meet an Australian Army requirement for a land-based maritime strike capability for its second Long Range Fires Regiment.

In December 2024 the Australian Department of Defence (DoD) said it was considering for the requirement the NSM Coastal Defence System (CDS) fitted with the StrikeMaster launcher or Lockheed Martin's Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) Increment (Inc) 2, fired from the same company's High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

The DoD has said that to inform the selection process it will hold a competitive evaluation process that will take place during 2025. A DoD spokesperson told Janes in May that the project remains in the tendering phase and did not comment on the ongoing selection process.

A Kongsberg spokesperson told Janes that Kongsberg and Thales were making progress with the development of the StrikeMaster's NSM launcher's interface, including its elevation mechanism. The StrikeMaster's NSM launcher is termed a ‘twin-pack' configuration and is capable of firing two missiles in quick succession.

According to the spokesperson, the development of the concept demonstrator prototype, which was unveiled at the Land Forces 2022 exhibition in Brisbane, confirms the feasibility of the twin-pack launcher's fit onto the Bushmaster utility vehicle.