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By Murray Hunter
AFTER years of negotiation with Norway and a contract worth RM 570 million signed with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to supply the NSM anti-ship missile system to the Royal Malaysian Navy Littoral Combat Ships project, the Norwegian cabinet abruptly forces cancellation.
This decision became known to the Malaysian Defence Ministry just days before the delivery of the NSM surface-to-surface system was to be delivered to the five Malaysian ships back in April.
As a consequence, the contractor Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has claimed force majeure due to the Norwegian government's decision, meaning that the company is not legally liable to return any funds paid by the Malaysian government.
On May 5, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a reported email, stated that “Norwegian authorities have concluded to revoke certain export licenses related to specific technologies. This change is due to Norway’s stricter controls of certain technologies.”
Malaysia is now left “up in the air” about any possibilities of obtaining a refund.
From the Norwegian perspective, this decision appears to be following on from a new ruling that selective military technologies may not be sold to non-NATO countries.
Back in 2018, Norway froze the supply of military equipment to Saudi Arabia over its use in Yemen to support the government against the Shiite Houthis.
However, from the Malaysian perspective, the country is not involved in any military operations against any nation or rebel grouping.
One can only speculate that Europe has become averse to supplying any nation that is shifting towards the BRICS grouping, aligned with the Russian Federation.
This is a slap in the face to a clearly non-aligned Malaysia today.
The Norwegian handling of the contract for NSM supply has been going on since 2018 without any indications of potential supply issues. The only thing is that Sweden has become more anti-Russian over the last year, and Malaysia has become a victim of this view of the world.
It is understood that Malaysia has sought another surface-to-surface missile system from Roketsan in Turkey. The cost is much cheaper, reportedly only RM 369 million.
The Turkish Atmaca missile has a longer range than the Norwegian system and has more sophisticated avionics and target-seeking systems. – May 7, 2026