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Kongsberg Upgrades Norway’s Skjold-Class Corvettes for High-Speed Littoral Warfare in the High North.
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace secured a roughly NOK 400 million contract from the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency to upgrade the combat systems aboard the Royal Norwegian Navy’s six Skjold-class coastal corvettes. The modernization strengthens Norway’s ability to operate fast, stealthy surface combatants in contested High North littorals shaped by Russian naval pressure and advanced missile threats.
On 20 February 2026, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace announced a new contract with the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency to upgrade the combat system fitted on the Royal Norwegian Navy’s six Skjold class coastal corvettes, in a programme valued at around NOK 400 million. The work, which extends a modernisation effort first launched in 2022, is designed to sustain the class’s technical availability and sharpen its contribution to coastal defence in an increasingly contested High North. In a security environment shaped by Russian naval activity, long-range missiles and dense surveillance networks, small stealthy surface units able to manoeuvre rapidly in fjords and archipelagos have renewed operational relevance for Norway and its allies.
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has secured a NOK 400 million contract to modernize the Royal Norwegian Navy’s Skjold class corvette combat systems, strengthening Norway’s high-speed littoral warfare capabilities in the contested High North (Picture Source: Norwegian Armed Forces /Umoe Mandal)
The new contract focuses on the Skjold class as an integrated combat system rather than a collection of separate subsystems. The work package is framed around modernising the shipborne combat management system (CMS), optimising sensor fusion and maintaining high combat system readiness across the six-ship squadron. In practical terms, this means refreshing processors and software that host the CMS, refining the fire-control solution for existing weapons and improving the ship’s ability to maintain a coherent recognised maritime picture in complex littoral clutter.
The emphasis on “technical availability” underlines that the programme is not limited to pure capability insertion: it also addresses obsolescence, logistics and through-life support, so that Skjold units can remain on the line with high uptime and predictable maintenance cycles. By treating the combat system as a node in a wider command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) network, the upgrade also supports Norway’s long-term objective of fully network-enabled operations, in which coastal corvettes contribute to joint kill chains alongside maritime patrol aircraft, F-35 fighters and coastal missile batteries.
The platform on which these digital enhancements are being installed is highly distinctive in naval terms. The Skjold class is a surface effect ship (SES) built in a catamaran configuration, using twin rigid sidewalls to contain an air cushion generated by lift fans. Rubber finger seals forward and a stern bag seal limit air leakage, while a ride-control system actively manages cushion pressure to reduce motions and wave slam at speed. The hull and superstructure are realised as a glass-fibre and carbon-fibre sandwich with vinylester or polyester resins and PVC or PMI cores, combining low structural weight with high stiffness. Radar-absorbing material is integrated directly into load-bearing structures as so-called structural RAM, allowing the designers to shape the vessel with large, angled panels and no right angles while keeping mass under tight control.
Propulsion is provided by a combined gas-and-gas (COGAG) arrangement of Pratt & Whitney gas turbines driving waterjets, delivering sprint speeds above 60 knots in calm seas and around 45 knots in sea state three, with a range of roughly 800 nautical miles at 40 knots and a crew of about 15–16. This combination of SES hydrodynamics, composite construction and high-power waterjets makes Skjold one of the very few combatants capable of sustained high-subsonic dash speeds in shallow water while preserving acceptable seakeeping in moderate seas.
From a combat-system perspective, Skjold is configured as a compact but heavily armed littoral combatant designed for sea denial against surface threats. The primary strike weapon is the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), carried in two quad launchers within an internal bay, giving each vessel eight long-range, sea-skimming anti-ship missiles optimised for complex coastal topography. Forward, a 76 mm Otobreda Super Rapid gun provides multi-role naval gunfire capability with high rates of fire suitable for surface engagements, limited area air defence and shore bombardment, benefiting from advanced fire-control solutions and programmable ammunition. For local air defence and point protection, the class mounts Mistral short-range surface-to-air missiles on a Simbad launcher, backed by heavy machine guns and an optionally fitted remotely operated weapon station.
In the sensor and electronic-warfare domain, the ships integrate a DCNS Senit 2000 CMS, a Thales 3D surveillance radar, Saab Ceros fire-control trackers, Sagem Vigy 20 and other electro-optical sights, as well as the EDO CS-3701 electronic support measures (ESM) suite and Rheinmetall MASS decoy launchers, all linked through Link 11 and Link 16 tactical data links. The KONGSBERG upgrade effectively renews the digital backbone tying these subsystems together, enabling faster track-while-scan performance, improved threat evaluation and weapon assignment, and more resilient electromagnetic-spectrum management in environments saturated with sensors, jammers and drones.
In operational terms, the Skjold concept represents the evolution of Norway’s long tradition of fast attack craft and motor torpedo boats into a modern missile corvette optimised for littoral warfare. The lead ship entered service in 1999, with the remaining five vessels commissioned between 2010 and 2012, replacing fourteen Hauk class boats with a smaller number of far more capable combatants. The class attracted early international attention: following demonstrations during a Norwegian exercise in 2001, the U.S. Navy leased HNoMS Skjold for a year of trials out of Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek to explore its potential for special operations and coastal warfare missions.
In subsequent years, Skjold units have taken part in major multinational exercises, including NATO’s Trident Juncture 2018, where Skjold-class corvettes operated alongside a U.S. carrier strike group off the Norwegian coast in an Article 5 collective-defence scenario that tested Norway’s ability to receive allied reinforcements. These deployments have validated the concept of employing very fast, low-signature missile ships as screening units, coastal strike assets and high-readiness reaction forces in the Norwegian littorals.
The Skjold class is designed to execute sea-denial and counter-invasion missions in what naval planners describe as the “green-water” battlespace: confined, shallow and cluttered coastal areas where land masses, islands and fjords create complex radar and infrared backgrounds. The SES hull form and shallow draught allow the corvettes to exploit narrow channels and skerries that are inaccessible to larger blue-water combatants, while their high dash speed increases tactical mobility, enabling rapid relocation between firing positions and quick displacement after a missile salvo. In a typical concept of operations, Skjold units can operate under emissions control (EMCON), receive targeting data via datalink from shore-based sensors, maritime patrol aircraft or other ships, execute a short, high-speed “pop-up” to launch NSM salvos, and then return to cover before the adversary can complete the kill chain. This makes them well suited to contribute to a layered coastal defence posture that combines land-based NSM batteries, submarines and air power to deny adversary surface groups freedom of manoeuvre along Norway’s long coastline and in the approaches to the Barents Sea.
The decision to invest further in Skjold’s combat system reflects how Oslo views the role of coastal corvettes within its broader maritime strategy. Norwegian white papers and long-term plans consistently highlight the need for credible deterrence and forward defence along NATO’s northern flank, where Russian submarines and surface combatants operating from the Kola Peninsula present a persistent challenge to allied sea lines of communication. While major procurement programmes focus on new submarines and future frigates, planners have also stressed the importance of upgrading existing surface units and maintaining missile systems tailored to the Norwegian littoral environment, such as NSM. The Skjold upgrade fits into this pattern as a cost-effective measure to keep a proven coastal warfare asset relevant well into the 2030s, ensuring that Norway’s navy can sustain distributed maritime operations in the High North without relying solely on a small number of high-value blue-water platforms. In alliance terms, these corvettes offer NATO a rapidly deployable, high-speed contribution to any contingency that requires sea denial and maritime flank protection in northern waters.
Compared with more conventional corvettes and offshore patrol vessels of similar displacement, the Skjold class occupies a distinctive niche. Traditional monohull corvettes typically trade speed for endurance and seakeeping, relying on medium-speed diesels and displacement hulls optimised for continuous cruising; by contrast, Skjold’s SES architecture and COGAG waterjet propulsion system are engineered for high-speed transit and manoeuvre, accepting shorter endurance in exchange for extreme tactical agility. The use of composite structural RAM makes Skjold a low-observable platform across radar, infrared and acoustic spectra, especially when combined with strict topside shaping and flush fittings, whereas many comparable vessels rely mainly on external radar-absorbent coatings and superstructure shaping alone. The result is a “micro-capital ship” concept: a 274-tonne hull that carries a frigate-like anti-ship missile battery, a medium-calibre gun, short-range air defence, a modern CMS and full ESM/ECM fit, yet can be crewed by fewer than twenty sailors. The KONGSBERG combat system upgrade enhances this unique balance by ensuring that the ship’s sensor-to-shooter chain, data-link connectivity and human–machine interfaces remain at a level commensurate with modern network-centric naval operations.
This latest contract confirms that Skjold will remain a core element of Norway’s coastal combat power rather than a legacy curiosity from an earlier fast-attack-craft era. By renewing the combat system around concepts such as networked C2, sensor fusion and resilient electronic warfare, Royal Norwegian Navy and its industrial partner are turning a very fast, stealthy hull into a fully integrated node within NATO’s northern maritime posture. For a relatively modest investment compared with new-build frigates or submarines, Norway preserves a force of six high-value littoral combatants able to complicate any adversary’s operational planning along the Norwegian coast and in the approaches to the Arctic. In an era where precision-guided munitions, drones and advanced ISR systems increasingly shape naval warfare, keeping Skjold’s combat system current sends a clear signal: small, hard-to-find ships with powerful missiles and modern sensors will remain central to how Norway and its allies intend to fight for sea control and sea denial in the High North.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.