History
The company was established in 1814 as Kongsberg Vaabenfabrik (KV) (lit.: "Kongsberg Weapons Factory"), a name which remained virtually unchanged until 1987, when it took the name Norsk Forsvarsteknologi (NFT) (lit.: "Norwegian Defence Technology") after restructuring due to the sale of all civilian activity and financial troubles. The name changed again in 1995 to the present Kongsberg Gruppen following its listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange in 1993. In 1974, a Canadian subsidiary known as Kongsberg Mesotech Ltd was established for the development and manufacturing of underwater surveillance systems.
In 1987, the company was part of the Toshiba-Kongsberg scandal, which involved a subsidiary of Toshiba and the Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk. The two provided the Soviet Union with technology (Toshiba milling machines and Kongsberg computer numerical controls) that could be used to produce quiet submarine propellers, in violation of the CoCom agreement. The US always relied on the fact that the Soviets had noisy boats. Providing the USSR with technology that could make their subs harder to find and track was perceived as a significant threat to America's security.
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“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
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—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)