Hanwha signs $67M artillery C3I contract with Kongsberg

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has signed a $67 million contract with Hanwha Defense Australia to provide the CORTEX Integrated Combat Solution (ICS) and Odin Fire Control System for the Australian Army’s AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzers. The Australian Army is procuring 30 howitzers and 15 self-propelled, armoured AS10 ammunition resupply vehicles under Project LAND8116 Ph1, Protected Mobile Fires (PMF).

Hanwha Defense already supplies the K9, on which the AS9 is based, to a number of NATO customers including Norway and it has built a close collaborative relationship with Kongsberg on vehicle digitization and integration of Command, Control, Communication and Information (C3I) Systems. Kongsberg markets this solution under the product name CORTEX, which is a future-oriented digital solution for combat platforms and C3I in general, the company says.

The solution delivered to Australia has been developed in close collaboration with the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency and the Norwegian artillery community and is in operational use in Norway today. Variants of the CORTEX solution are also used on other Norwegian platforms and form the base of cooperation between Kongsberg and Norwegian and international industry.

The program involves a significant, further development of the Norwegian VIDAR solution for K9 artillery, and it will generate both work in Norway and training at Kongsberg Defence Australia.

“It is great to see a product like CORTEX being chosen by other nations,” says Brigadier Øyvind Kvalvik, Chief of Land Systems Division, Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency. “The product is a result of good cooperation and development between Norwegian defence sector and Kongsberg, and it’s an example of successful development of user-customized technology with important functionality and high reliability.”