Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has commenced an initiative to align development of its XM914 30 x 113MM Remote Weapon Station for the US Army with its previously awarded CROWS Technology Refresh program (Contract Number: W15QKN-12-C-0103 P00156 / USD $36 Million).
As a member of the KONGSBERG CROWS family of systems, the XM914 system will share significant commonality with major CROWS components and sub-systems. It will leverage the CROWS technical data package licensed to the U.S Government (USG) and the expansive CROWS supply chain, - creating extensive workshare across the US industrial base. By aligning these two paths, the future XM914 CROWS system will have the benefit of a mature technology roadmap that has already been invested in by the USG.
“There is a benefit of such a decision for the Army. Not only will this provide a path for capability growth of the XM914, it will show tremendous cost savings by deriving improvements from a much larger pool of systems”, said Paal Bratlie, Executive Vice President of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. Bratlie was referring to the over 12,000 CROWS systems already in the US Army inventory, that will be upgraded under the Technology Refresh program.
“The effort will also have a reciprocal, positive effect for the CROWS pool. We are pulling technology into the XM914 from our Medium Caliber Turret 30mm x 173MM system, where the Technology Refresh program provides a contracted path to introduce those technologies as well. KONGSBERGs offering for 30 x 113MM is the only industry offering that can utilize such a broad base of technology, logistics and sustainment investment. KONGSBERG’s offering is the only one that provides a technology roadmap, which can be leveraged to develop the XM914 30 x 113MM even further in the future,” Paal Bratlie concludes.