May 13, 2020 – Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS (Kongsberg) has been selected by BAE Systems, Inc. to design and manufacture the remote Medium Caliber Turret (MCT) for the United States Marine Corps’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) -30 program. Kongsberg will deliver up to 150 MCTs in a phased program as part of this contract. Test article delivery will commence early 2021 followed by production phases.
The Kongsberg MCT-30 is the first remotely operated 30mm turret to be qualified and fielded in the United States. The system provides highly accurate firepower for wheeled or tracked combat vehicles. It is remotely controlled and operated from a protected position inside the vehicle compartment for optimized crew safety.
The MCT-30 leverages a link-less medium caliber cannon providing lethality, extremely high reliability and multi-user functions to the Marine Corps ACV and other platforms.
“The ACV-30 with Kongsberg’s MCT-30 turret signifies a powerful lethality capability for the Marine Corps, representative of a new era in U.S. amphibious operations,” said Pål E Bratlie, Executive Vice President Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.”
The U.S. Army, in 2015, chose Kongsberg’s MCT-30 to increase the lethality of the Stryker Brigade in Europe. The system has been fielded and operated with the Army as part of the European Deterrence Initiative since 2018.
It is the primary armament and fire control system for the Infantry Carrier Vehicle – Dragoon (ICV-D) Strykers. All MCT-30s, and any remote weapon stations, bound for U.S. customers are manufactured in the Kongsberg Johnstown, Penn. facility leveraging a U.S. supply base located in over 30 states.
So a British company selects a Swedish company to make a major component of a Marine Corps vehicle. I know they are our allies, but we really need to be designing and making this stuff in the USA. To be fair, I have no problem with any country keeping their defense manufacturing domestic. It’s a national security issue when you outsource the brainpower behind weapon defense.
We struggle at designing small arms, let alone anything big. I guess we are good at sniper rifles and Fighter Jets.
Kongsberg is not Swedish but Norwegian, and have a manufacturing plant in Johnstown in the US and have produced remote weapon stations for US Forces (CROWS) for many years