Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) is one of three business units of Kongsberg Gruppen (KONGSBERG) of Norway and the supplier of defence 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.
| Company type | Business unit of Kongsberg Gruppen |
|---|---|
| Industry | Military |
| Founded | 1814 |
| Headquarters | Kongsberg, Norway |
Area served | Global |
Key people | Eirik Lie (President) |
| Revenue | NOK 7,530 million (2012) |
| NOK 1,036 million (2012) | |
Number of employees | 3,500 (2021) |
| Parent | Kongsberg Gruppen |
| Website | www |
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. In the early 1990s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace was involved with NASA's JPL and Germany's DASA 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 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.