Key Points
- Kongsberg signed a NOK 1.1 billion, about $118 million, follow-on contract with GDLS-Canada to supply PROTECTOR RS4 weapon systems for Canada’s ACSV fleet.
- The RS4 order builds on a roughly NOK 500 million contract from May 2020 and comes as Canada has ordered 190 additional ACSVs in 2026.
Kongsberg has signed a contract worth NOK 1.1 billion, about $118.4 million, to supply additional PROTECTOR RS4 Remote Weapon Systems to General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada for the Canadian Army’s Armoured Combat Support Vehicle program.
The Norwegian defense company said the deal is a follow-on order building on previous RS4 deliveries for the same program. Kongsberg first won a contract worth roughly NOK 500 million in May 2020 to supply PROTECTOR remote weapon stations for the ACSV fleet, according to prior reporting.
“This contract confirms our customer’s confidence in the PROTECTOR systems and further strengthens our long-term partnership with GDLS-Canada,” said Kjetil Reiten Myhra, Executive Vice President, Kongsberg and President of the Defence Systems division.
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“We are proud that the RS4 continues to be selected as a key capability for the Canadian Armed Forces’ modern vehicle fleet.”
The RS4 is a remotely operated weapon station that lets a vehicle crew fire from inside the hull rather than exposing a gunner in an open turret. It can be equipped with machine guns, automatic grenade launchers, and, on some configurations, anti-tank guided missiles. The system uses a stabilized, four-axis mount and sensor package designed to let a crew engage targets accurately while the vehicle is moving. Kongsberg said the RS4 is already fielded with defense customers worldwide and can be integrated across a range of vehicle types.
The Armoured Combat Support Vehicle is a family of eight variants built on the LAV 6.0 chassis, including ambulance, command post, and mobile repair versions. The Canadian government approved the 360-vehicle, $2.52 billion program in 2019, and GDLS-Canada has produced the vehicles at its plant in London, Ontario. The Army accepted its first ACSV in December 2020, and the program reached Initial Operational Capability in January 2025 with the delivery of the Troop/Cargo, Ambulance, and Command Post variants. Full Operational Capability is planned for 2028.
Canada donated 39 Troop/Cargo Vehicle variants originally built for its own fleet to Ukraine, with GDLS-Canada replacing those vehicles under the existing contract. As of August 2024, the Army had received 34 of a planned 49 ambulance variants.
Not every ACSV in the fleet carries an RS4. A Canadian Army official told Canadian Army Today in a report published in December 2024 that the service had been able to buy only 178 of the weapon stations due to cost and availability, even though every vehicle in the fleet is built to accept one. Vehicles without an RS4 instead carry a pintle-mounted C6A1 machine gun. The Canadian Department of National Defence told Shephard Media in February 2026 that it expected final deliveries of the existing RWS order that summer.
Canada has also moved to expand the overall ACSV fleet. The Army ordered 190 additional ACSVs this year to replace aging support vehicles and support NATO operations, according to a July 2026 report. Kongsberg’s announcement did not specify how many additional RS4 units are covered under the new NOK 1.1 billion contract or say whether the order is tied to that fleet expansion.
