Norway will reinforce its F-35 fighter jet firepower with AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder tactical missiles in a $370 million deal with the United States. The U.S. State Department approved the potential Foreign Military Sale deal on Friday.
According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Norway requested 300 AIM-9X Block II tactical missiles and related training and guidance variants, including two special air training missiles, 24 captive air training missiles, 20 AIM-9X tactical guidance units and 20 CATM guidance units. The package also includes non-major defense articles such as dummy training missiles, containers, software, technical manuals, training, logistics support, spare parts and engineering services.
RTX is named the principal contractor for the possible deal, which will involve temporarily deploying three U.S. government personnel and three RTX representatives to Norway for technical and logistical support.
The missile acquisition follows a series of recent defense milestones for Norway. Last Thursday, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace completed delivery of its Joint Strike Missile to the Norwegian Armed Forces, which will integrate the weapon into its F-35A fleet. Oslo completed its F-35 program in March, becoming the first international partner to receive all 52 aircraft on order from Lockheed Martin.