Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace is one of three business units of
Kongsberg Gruppen (KONGSBERG) of
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
and the supplier of
defence
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense indust ...
and
space related systems and products, mainly
anti-ship missiles, military communications, and command and weapons control systems for naval vessels and air-defence applications. Today, the company is probably best known abroad for its development/industrialisation and production of the first passive
IR homing anti-ship missile of the western world, the
Penguin, starting delivery in the early 1970s (when Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace was part of KONGSBERG's predecessor ''Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk''). As of 2021, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace had 3,500 employees.
Space related activities are conducted within Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace's Space & Surveillance division and ''Kongsberg Satellite Services''. Notable space related products from Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace are the Booster Attachment and Release Mechanisms for
ESA's
Ariane 5
Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads in ...
. In the early 1990s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace was involved with
NASA's JPL and Germany's
DASA
''Dasa'' ( sa, दास, Dāsa) is a Sanskrit word found in ancient Indian texts such as the '' Rigveda'' and '' Arthasastra''. It usually means "enemy" or "servant" but ''dasa'', or ''das'', also means a "servant of God", "devotee," " votary" or ...
in software development of the test/checkout system, as well as spacecraft hardware production, for the NASA/ESA
Cassini-Huygens space probe. Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has also delivered the Solar Array Drive Mechanism for ESA's
Rosetta space probe.
On 22 November 2008 Norwegian
Minister of Defence Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen
Anne-Grete Hjelle Strøm-Erichsen (born 21 October 1949 in Bergen) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She served as Minister of Defence from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2012 to 2013. She also served as Minister of Health and Care S ...
opened a new Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace plant that will produce parts for the aircraft recently chosen as Norway's future fighter, the
F-35 Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...
.
Owners and ownership in other companies
It is fully owned by
Kongsberg Gruppen ASA (a company that has a majority ownership by Norway's government.)
Its
subsidiaries are
Kongsberg Spacetec AS,
Kongsberg Hungaria Kft,
Kongsberg Norcontrol AS,
Kongsberg Defence Corp.
Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production a ...
,
Kongsberg Defence Oy
Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms pro ...
,
Kongsberg Defence Sp. Z.O.O.
Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms prod ...
,
Kongsberg Gallium Ltd.
Kongsberg Geospatial is a Situational Awareness and Geospatial Visualization software company located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1992 as Gallium Visual Systems Inc. and purchased in 2006 by Norwegian Defence firm Kongsberg Gr ...
and
Kongsberg Defence Ltd. Co.
It owns 50% of
Kongsberg Satellite Services AS.
Toshiba-Kongsberg affair
In 1987, Tocibai Machine, a subsidiary of
Toshiba, was accused of illegally selling
CNC milling machine
Milling is the process of machining using rotary cutters to remove material by advancing a cutter into a workpiece. This may be done by varying direction on one or several axes, cutter head speed, and pressure. Milling covers a wide variety of d ...
s used to produce very quiet
submarine propellers to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
in violation of the
CoCom agreement, an international
embargo on certain countries to
COMECON countries. The Toshiba-Kongsberg scandal involved a subsidiary of Toshiba and the Norwegian company Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk. The incident strained
relations between the United States and Japan
Relation or relations may refer to:
General uses
*International relations, the study of interconnection of politics, economics, and law on a global level
*Interpersonal relationship, association or acquaintance between two or more people
*Public ...
, and resulted in the arrest and prosecution of two senior executives, as well as the imposition of
sanctions
A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym.
Examples of sanctions include:
Government and law
* Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts
* Economic sanctions, typically a b ...
on the company by both countries.
Products
Integrated Director Group (IDG) – radar system for target acquisition
*
Penguin – passive heat seeking anti-ship missile
*
Naval Strike Missile (NSM) – anti-ship missile with passive imaging heat seeker. Launched from ships and land vehicles.
*
Joint Strike Missile (JSM) – sea- and land targets missile, launched from aircraft
* Trainers and simulators for different systems
* Mechanic and optomechanic for spaceships
*
Protector (RWS)
The Protector RWS is a remotely controlled weapons station (RWS) that can be mounted to vehicles and stationary platforms. It has been in full scale production since December 2001. It is manufactured by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace of Norway.
...
* EriTac – tactical communication
* Multi-Role Radio (MRR) – field radios
* ComBatt – A system for battlefield administration
* Encryption Devices
* NORTaC-C2IS – command- and control systems for tactical operations in the army
* Composite Materials
* MSI-90 uboat system – command and arms control for submarines
* MSI 2005F – system for anti-submarine warfare, for use on frigates
* Senit 2000 – command system for Hauk-class MTBs
* MICOS – mine hunting and minesweeping
* Kongsberg Mission Planning System (KAMP) – tactical system for naval operations
* Minesniper – Remote mine destroyer
*
SLAMRAAM – surface-to-air AIM-120 air defense missiles, both as a separate system in NASAMS and integrated with HAWK
* GBADOC – ground-based airspace control
* Software for
E3A AWACS
*
NASAMS 1-3
See also
*
Aviation in Norway
Aviation has been a part of Norwegian society since the early twentieth century.
Early attempts
In the early days of Norwegian aviation the Norwegian enthusiasts lacked an engine and were therefore unable to perform real flights. The first engine ...
References
External links
*
Image:Agm119_penguin.png , A Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace Penguin anti-ship cruise missile.
File:Seahawk-penguin.jpg, US Seahawk launching AGM-119 Penguin (2002)
File:Kongsberg_Protector_RWS_on_M1126.jpg, Protector RWS on top of an M1126 Stryker (2005)
File:NASAMS 1, Bodø, 2005.jpg, Norwegian NASAMS (2005)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace
Aerospace companies of Norway
Defence companies of Norway
Manufacturing companies of Norway
Companies established in 1814
Companies based in Buskerud
Defence
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense indust ...
Norwegian companies established in 1814