AUSA 2024: Kord Defence Controllers Save Seconds in the Heat of Battle
One of the most interesting companies at AUSA 2024’s Australian Industry pavilion was Canberra-based Kord Defence. The company manufactures programmable push-button controllers which can be attached to rifles. Soldiers can use these remotes to control gear such as flashlights, radios, and laser sights, either mounted on the weapon or worn on the soldier’s body.
Peter Moran, the Managing Director of Kord Defense, explained why these simple controllers are so impactful.
“It enables the soldier to control their various electronic devices on their weapon and on their body from one point, so it enables them to keep their head up, eyes on target, hands on weapon. We can save the soldiers seconds in operating devices, and of course, seconds count in the heat of battle. […] If you look at all the radios and the way that they’re controlled, typically all the push-to-talk switches are on their body. So with a soldier who’s in a position where they need to be eyes on, hands on, they’ve got to take their hands off the weapon to reach for that PTT to communicate. We can provide that control on the weapon, so they don’t have to do that. And of course, we control a range of other electronic devices”.
Currently, Kord Defence is the only company in the world offering such a capability. The system has already proven itself in Ukraine and has sparked interest in the American and Australian militaries.
“We’ve been working with the Ukraine military for the past two years and they’ve actually come to us to seek those technologies because they found, after testing, that we were able to provide their frontline operators with advanced performance, more efficient performance, and indeed they feel that we can save lives by virtue of the fact that their soldiers are going to be more eyes on head up. […] We’ve also done four years of testing with the US Marine Corps in the US and also the Australian Army.”
The feedback the company has received from operators has been used to improve the design of switches and to create new variants. Flexibility is one of the greatest benefits of Kord’s controllers.
“We’re designing them so that they’re fully generic. They’ll go on a Picatinny rail, an M-Lok interface or indeed they’ll go on a flat surface. They can be body-worn. We can reproduce the controls so that, for example, if you’re a sniper, you can have control for your communications on the butt of the stock but still also have access to that when you’re in a recon position on the front of the weapon. So it’s fully configurable.”
By giving soldiers that split-second advantage Kord Defence’s controllers help soldiers stay ready, responsive, and alive. Perhaps soon, they will become a common piece of infantry equipment.