SHOWING OFF THE NAVAL STRIKE MISSILE: The littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords launches a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) during exercise Pacific Griffin. The NSM is a long-range, precision strike anti-ship weapon. It’s one of the weapons the Navy has installed on LCS’ to give the ships some offensive punch. This post from 2016 describes the weapons upgrade issue. The NSM is a Norwegian-designed missile. This second post from 2016 discusses the Navy’s decision to buy it and deploy it on littoral combat ships.