Kord wins USMC contract

Canberra-based Kord Defence has won another innovation contract from the US Marine Corps to complete development of its Rifle Accessory Control Unit technology. This latest $1.4 million contracts comes on top of successive R&D contracts from the USMC as well as a $635,000 Defence Innovation Hub contract in 2017 from the Australian Department of Defence.

Kord’s founder and Managing Director, Dr Peter Moran, said development of their technology would not have been possible without the support of the Defence Innovation Hub. “Winning an Innovation Hub contract in 2017 enabled us to develop a wireless control system which formed the basis of the technology now being tested by the United States Marine Corps,” Dr Moran said.

Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Melissa Price MP, said Kord’s success was an example of how the Defence Innovation Hub is opening doors for Australian companies.

“I’m pleased to see the investment our Government made in Kord has enabled them to grow and pursue new export opportunities in global markets,” Minister Price said. “Along with growing the sovereign capability of our own defence industry, this is precisely what we designed the Defence Innovation Hub to do.”

In June 2018 Kord won a USMC contract worth nearly half a million Australian dollars for testing and evaluation of the wireless control system; this came on top of an original 18-month USMC contract worth US$2.25 million awarded in April 2017 under the US Foreign Comparative test Program.

Kord established a US subsidiary, KordUSA Inc., in April 2016 to prepare for this program. The company later established an office in Quantico, Virginia, close to the USMC Combat Development Command and Research Centre that are based at MCB Quantico.