Australian frigate HMAS Ballarat's (FFH-155) crew practised loading NSM cruise missiles, which will succeed RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
As reported by Naval News, the training is another step in the Royal Australian Navy's transition to the multi-purpose NSM cruise missile developed by the Norwegian Kongsberg.
The U.K. is making the same replacement on its Harpoon-armed Type 23 frigates. Both countries have adopted the NSM missile for their future Type 26 frigates (City-class of the U.K. and Hunter-class of Australia).
In addition to advantages over Harpoon in anti-surface warfare, including an EO/IR seeker with better discrimination, low-observable form, and delayed warhead fuse, NSM has also added land attack capability from varying ranges depending on flight path thanks to its seeker allowing the missile to find land targets.
The Royal Australian Navy also enhances its anti-air warfare capabilities by integrating SM-6 long-range air defence missiles instead of the SM-2 series of missiles on Hobart-class destroyers.
Compared to SM-2, which is a semi-active RF seeker that requires illumination, SM-6 features an active RF seeker derived from AIM-120C7 BVRAAM, making it easier to engage multiple targets from varying angles at once. In addition to Hobart-class, SM-6 will also be used on the upcoming Hunter-class frigates.
