As arms sales boom, Norway's Kongsberg opens missile factory

Record ID: 1824233

  • Title: As arms sales boom, Norway's Kongsberg opens missile factory
  • Date: 20th June 2024
  • Summary: N'DJAMENA, CHAD (JUNE 19, 2024) (REUTERS) HOSPITAL BED SURROUNDED BY DEBRIS DAMAGED WALL SEEN FROM OUTSIDE AS SALAM MEDICAL CENTER BROKEN WINDOWS AND WALLS VARIOUS OF BROKEN GLASS ON STAIRS LIGHT FIXTURE HANGING THROUGH HOLE IN CEILING AS SALAM MEDICAL CENTER MANAGER, MAHAMOUT HAMIT, HOLDING ONTO DAMAGED WINDOW PANE HAMIT DUCKING UNDER COLLAPSED DOOR FRAME BROKEN GLASS ON
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2024 15:00
  • Keywords: Joint Strike Missile Kongsberg Gruppen Naval Strike Missile Russia Ukraine missile factory war weapons
  • Location: KONGSBERG, NORWAY AND UNDISCLOSED LOCATIONS
  • City: KONGSBERG, NORWAY AND UNDISCLOSED LOCATIONS
  • Country: Norway
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA002232420062024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: PART AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING
    Norwegian defence manufacturer Kongsberg Gruppen opened a new missile factory on Thursday (June 20) to meet surging demand for weapons from Western countries spooked by Russia's war in Ukraine and China's modernisation of its armed forces.
    NATO allies are racing to increase their own production of weapons, ammunition and missiles, partly to supply Ukraine but also to replenish stocks and be able to counter new threats.
    The decision to build the plant was taken in 2021, before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, when Kongsberg saw increased demand for its missiles.
    Eirik Lie, Kongsberg's head of defence and aerospace, said some of that demand came from the U.S. Navy, selecting Kongsberg's Naval Strike Missile (NSM) for its fleet, an anti-ship missile with a range of 250 km.
    More akin to a giant tech lab than a military arsenal, the facility cost 640 million crowns ($61 million), with the Norwegian government putting up 200 million crowns and the European Union 10 million.
    In the factory, which will employ 1,200 people, the NSM and its cousin the Joint Strike Missile (JSM), a cruise missile for Lockheed Martin's F35 fighter jets, will be built.
    The plant will produce "several hundreds of missiles per year", Lie said, declining to give a specific number. Neither would he say how much production was expanding by, only that growth was "exponential".
    The NSM is currently used by 14 countries, 11 of which are in NATO or the EU, said Kongsberg.
    (Production: Gwladys Fouche, Ilze Filks)
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