Kongsberg Australia is pursuing opportunities to supply Zone 5 Technologies’ long-range strike and air-defence missiles to Australia and explore local production. A memorandum of understanding announced on 6 October also covers New Zealand and cooperation on supply chains.
The agreement follows Kongsberg’s acquisition of a controlling stake in the US missile company in June. It brings Zone 5’s weapons into Kongsberg Australia’s efforts to expand its guided weapons business, with an emphasis on affordability and manufacturing at scale.
Zone 5’s Rusty Dagger is a long-range strike cruise missile designed for launch from aircraft, ground platforms and ships, which Kongsberg describes as combat-proven. Its White Spike interceptor targets subsonic threats, particularly drones, and is being integrated into NASAMS air-defence command and control.
“As we have seen in Europe and the US, the current environment requires the ability to produce capable and affordable effectors quickly and at scale,” said John Fry, managing director of Kongsberg Australia. “Building resilient supply chains and industrial capacity is critical to ensuring Australia and its allies can sustain capability when it matters.”
“Key design principles for Zone 5 Technologies’ solutions are simplified supply chains and manufacturability at scale,” Fry said. The companies will use the memorandum to assess manufacturing and supply chain opportunities, rather than proceed under an announced production contract.
Kongsberg Australia is already establishing a missile factory at Williamtown, New South Wales, to manufacture and maintain the Naval Strike Missile and Joint Strike Missile. The facility will be the first of its kind for those weapons outside Norway, and the company is a strategic partner to Australia’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise.
Kongsberg completed its purchase of a 90% stake in California-based Zone 5 on 10 June 2026 after receiving US regulatory approval. Founder and chief executive Thomas Akers and the management team retained ownership stakes and continue to lead the business as an independent subsidiary.
“Zone 5 adds a distinct capability to the KONGSBERG portfolio, bringing a proven track record of rapid production, highly scalable and affordable missiles,” Kongsberg president and chief executive Eirik Lie said when the acquisition closed. “Together with the Zone 5 leadership, KONGSBERG will support and accelerate the company’s scale-up and international growth.”
Zone 5 has received contract awards under the US Air Force’s AGM-188 Family of Affordable Mass Missiles programme and its export initiative, the Extended Range Attack Munition. Founded in 2011, it employs more than 350 engineers, technicians and support staff, with major manufacturing operations in California and Texas and another planned in Ohio.
