Norway Intercepts Malaysian Kongsberg NSM Deal

NORWAY has reportedly revoked certain export licences of specific technologies which efffectively cancels Malaysia’s procurement of Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) from Norwegian firm Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. Malaysia had signed a deal with Kongsberg in 2018 for the purchase of NSMs to be equipped onboard the Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) being built.

The NSMs were set to be delivered just before the export licence was said to have been revoked by the Norwegian Foreign Affairs Ministry, citing stricter export controls.

Malaysia’s defence minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin said Malaysia will engage Norway through diplomatic channels to seek clarification and discuss appropriate measures over the issue, stating that he will be meeting his Norwegian counterpart Tore O. Sandvik at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore at the end of this month to seek clarification on the matter.–-shp/adj/dl (Pix:KONGSBERG)