Kongsberg Gruppen has been awarded a contract modification to provide support services for the US Army’s M153 Protector common remotely-operated weapon stations (CROWS) programme.

The Nkr161m ($28.2m) award forms part of the previous $970m new framework agreement secured by the company following a full and open competition in August.

Under the new contract, Kongsberg will continue to manufacture Protector weapons, and provide system and technical engineering support to the army over the next five years.

"M153 CROWS has been designed to enhance military troop protection and combat capabilities by enabling target acquisition and engagement from safer distances."

Valued at $1.4bn, CROWS is a joint acquisition programme for remote weapon stations and is designed to offer improved protection capabilities, training and development support for the US Army’s vehicle programmes.

Based on the combat proven M151 Protector system, M153 CROWS has been designed to enhance military troop protection and combat capabilities by enabling target acquisition and engagement from safer distances.

Designed to be mounted on a wide range of vehicles, the remote weapon station also supports firing from the MK19 grenade machine gun, 0.50-calibre M2 machine gun, M240B machine gun, and M249 squad automatic weapon from inside of a heavy armoured vehicle.

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In addition, the system was deployed by the army during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and has also been used by many US forces, including the Army National Guard (ANG) and US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) during conflicts.

Kongsberg has delivered more than 10,000 M153 CROWS units to the US Army since August 2007, and recently secured an Nkr195m ($34m) contract extension for supply of CROWS spare parts late last month.

The weapon is also operated by more than 16 nations, including Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and the UK.