The StrikeMaster Missile Launch Vehicle (MLV) is a joint project from KONGSBERG Thales Australia. It is designed to provide a land based maritime strike capability on a mobile platform. Leveraging the proven Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle as well as the KONGSBERG Naval Strike Missile, it is now being offered to European customers.
By Sam Cranny-Evans, editor of Calibre Defence, published on June 22, 2026.
In April 2022 a small Ukrainian unit fired two Neptune anti-ship missiles at the Moskva. The missiles found their target and the ship later sunk. The impact on the Russian Black Sea fleet was far-reaching, forming part of a campaign that shaped the fleet’s willingness to come close to the shore. It was not the first time that a major vessel had been caught unawares by a land-launched cruise missile.
In 2006 the Israeli INS Hanit, an advanced Sa’ar 5-class corvette serving as the flagship of the Israeli Navy, was patrolling the coast of Lebanon to enforce a naval blockade. Hezbollah launched two anti-ship missiles at the Hanit. The first overflew the ship and accidentally struck and sank a civilian merchant ship. The second hit the Hanit‘s aft section directly. The automatic defence systems on the corvette were turned off at the time because the crew was unaware that Hezbollah possessed such sophisticated weaponry.
Much like Ukraine’s strike, the attack on INS Hanit led the Israeli navy to immediately increase its distance from the coast. A similar attack against a leased aluminium civilian ship in 2016, forced a prompt reassessment of the UAE’s naval posture. This trend reflects the role that a land-based anti-ship capability can have. With that in mind, it is worth examining the NSM StrikeMaster coastal defence system, a collaboration between Thales and KONGSBERG.
StrikeMaster’s origins
A still of a StrikeMaster vehicle firing a missile during a test. Credit: KONGSBERG Australia.
During a visit to Eurosatory, Calibre Defence understands the StrikeMaster Missile Launch Vehicle (MLV) was originally developed in 2022 for an Australian requirement. Under a project called Project Land 8113 Phase 2, the Australian Defence Forces set out a requirement for a land-based maritime strike capability that could contribute to a force posture that focused on deterrence by denial. In theory, this means that Australia would try to deter an opponent from invading by making the costs in terms of losses too high.
In that scenario, a naval force would face waves of missiles upon its approach to the coast, potentially preventing a landing or at least altering the force’s behaviour, as has been seen with both Israel and Russia.
The StrikeMaster NSM CDS, a collaboration between Kongsberg Australia and Thales Australia, competed with the Lockheed Martin M142 HIMARS combined with the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) Increment 2. Australia ordered 42 HIMARS launchers between 2022 and 2023 to equip its 10th Brigade. Another 48 HIMARS launchers were approved for sale in April 2026, along with a large stockpile of missiles. So, Australia has picked PrSM for its anti-ship requirement, but the missile is yet to be fully developed, and the cost of joining its development understood to be very high. So, as the two companies bring the StrikeMaster to Europe, it is worth examining its capabilities, and what makes it a good fit for European states.
Tech profile: StrikeMaster
Specification
StrikeMaster
Length
7.18 m
Width
2.8 m
Height
2.65 m
Operational range
600 km
Top speed
100 km
Missile carried
Naval Strike Missile
Missile range
Greater than 300 km
Warhead
Approx 230 kg semi-armour piercing warhead
The platform is the robust, agile and reliable Thales Bushmaster, a protected mobility 4×4 which has been proven in battlefields in the middle east and Ukraine and is in service with nine different customers, including three in Europe. A complete StrikeMaster system would consist of the launch vehicle with two missiles, and another six missiles carried on a trailer by a missile resupply vehicle. Both are based on the Bushmaster, but the missile launch vehicle uses a modified load bed to accommodate the missile canisters.
The missile canisters are the same as those used on ships, which is why the US Marine Corp’s NMESIS launchers often carry grey canisters, the Kongsberg representative said. The missile resupply vehicle is fitted with a crane, which is used to quickly remove and replace the canisters from the launcher.
With the Bushmaster as its base, StrikeMaster is highly mobile, reaching a top speed of 100 km/h and providing an operational range of 600 km. It is 7.18 m long, 2.8 m wide, and 2.65 m high, allowing it to be transported inside transport aircraft such as an A400M. The cab is provided with ballistic protection allowing the crew of two some safety from ballistic threats.
Armament: Naval Strike Missile
The Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile as fired from the StrikeMaster vehicle. Credit: Calibre Defence.
The StrikeMaster’s armament is two Naval Strike Missile from Kongsberg. The Naval Strike Missile weighs 400 kg and is designed to fly a sea-skimming profile and has a high thrust-to-weight ratio, which enables it to manoeuvre at speed to complicate the job of air defences. The speed is not publicly stated, but referred to as “a high subsonic speed,” which typically indicates a speed of between 270 and 300 metres per second. In addition, the Naval Strike Missile employs a mixture of stealth and intelligent flight path planning to evade a ship’s defences.
Furthermore, it employs a passive infrared seeker with a wide field of view, which minimises the missile’s vulnerability to jamming when compared to a millimetre wave radar seeker, which is often used for anti-ship missiles. The seeker head also rotates, allowing the imager to stare at a target even as the missile manoeuvres.
Target data needs to be provided by a third party and can come from any source such as a radar or other reconnaissance asset. The missile is capable of automatic target recognition, the Kongsberg Australia representative explained, which means it can be used to target a specific ship within a formation.
It is armed with a 227 kg (500 lb) class armour piercing and fragmentation warhead coupled to an intelligent fuze. In theory, this means that the missile should effectively find and strike a target at a place where the warhead can do the most damage. As the missiles and canister are the same as the ship-launched versions, they can be shared between the StrikeMaster and fleet vessels.
Calibre comment: Russia’s naval forces and “Kalibrization”
In the mid-2000s, Russia initiated something that analysts have called the Kalibrization of its navy. This word simply means that as many Russian ships and submarines as possible have been fitted with the 3S14 vertical launch system so that they can carry and launch the 3M-14 Kalibr cruise missile. Kalibrization has extended to the Buyan-M class corvettes – an 850-tonne vessel, which is a very small displacement to carry eight cruise missiles. The majority of the ten Buyan-M class are deployed to the Baltic and Black Seas; they represent just one element of the threat posed to Europe by the Russian Navy.
The range of the 3M-14, which is thought to approach 1,500 km, is thought to enable Russia to threaten large portions of Europe from the sea. So, it stands to reason that a capability like StrikeMaster that can be quickly deployed and used to reduce the number of available Russian ships would be a valuable addition to the continent’s deterrence posture.
Read on:
The lead image shows the StrikeMaster on display during the Eurosatory 2026 exhibition. Credit: Calibre Defence.