Kongsberg NanoAvionics (“NanoAvionics”) has announced a multi-million investment plan to support and accelerate its goal of becoming the prime supplier for small satellite constellations, globally. As a result of the recent acquisition by Kongsberg and part of its growth plan, the company seeks to significantly grow its production capacity over the next two years as well as ramping up its research and development (R&D) program. Having finalized its acquisition by Kongsberg in September, NanoAvionics also announced its name change to Kongsberg NanoAvionics but will continue trading as NanoAvionics.
The increase of its R&D activities will include a focus on defense-grade reliability of satellite buses and further cater to NanoAvionics’ modular architecture for sophisticated remote sensing applications. To make sure the data of its customers continues to be fully protected, NanoAvionics will continue to enhance the cybersecurity of its satellite buses.
To grow its production capacity, the company will expand its Lithuanian facilities in Vilnius and Kaunas, focusing on serial manufacturing of satellite buses, and hiring more people in the coming year.
In addition, customers, in particular those looking to build a constellation, partners, prospects and other stakeholders will benefit from an expanded supply chain through Kongsberg and its industrial technology expertise. Combined with NanoAvionics capabilities in the smallsat industry, the investment plan and enhanced end-to-end infrastructure will allow for new and improved products and enhance the worldwide availability of NanoAvionics satellites respectively.
Kongsberg, an international high-technology group headquartered in Norway, acquired a 77 percent controlling interest in NanoAvionics at an enterprise value of 65 million euros on September 8, 2022. The management and leadership structure of the Lithuanian smallsat mission integrator and bus manufacturer remains unchanged.
“The investment by Kongsberg and their expertise together with our research, manufacturing and mission expertise, enables us to seriously scale our growth and expansion plans, and even develop new products,” said Vytenis J. Buzas, CEO of Kongsberg NanoAvionics. “We are now well on course to become the prime supplier for small satellite constellations, globally. To reach our goals, it is vital that we maintain our customer-centric agility, fast-pace innovation, and the cost-efficiency of our satellite systems.”
Eirik Lie, president for Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and chairman of NanoAvionics said, “NanoAvionics has made impressive strides to already become one of the leading small satellite mission integrators in this industry and being well trusted by its customers and partners. As part of the Kongsberg family, they are now even better positioned and able to make new and further high-quality and cost-efficient propositions across the entire value chain for smallsat constellations.”