Defence company Nioa is on track to commission its new 155mm artillery shell manufacturing line at its Maryborough plant.
The company has also used the Land Forces defence expo in Perth to display its new generic drone warheads.
Nioa Chief Executive Officer Robert Nioa said it had been an excellent show, with much more activity than at previous Land Forces expos.
“There is activity in Australia now on new munitions and things like drone and counter drone activities. The push for sovereign manufacturing is starting to get real,” he told ADM.
The government has contracted Nioa to stand up production of US M795 pattern 155mm artillery shells at its plant in Maryborough, Queensland. Current production there has been German pattern 155mm artillery shells under a venture with Rheinmetall.
“That’s the first time that shell will be made outside North America. So, it is quite a significant contract by way of international cooperation. It will be a fully US-government certified shell.
“To do that there is about $72 million worth of infrastructure and commissioning going into that process including a new building. They use different types of heat treatment and processes.”
The forge at Maryborough won’t change. Nioa said that could forge any nature of 155mm shell but there were post forging processes which required some specialist equipment and treatment unique to the US-pattern shells.
That did involve adopting some legacy processes.
“It is something that is known, it works, it needs to be repeatable. They have a process and it is not something they can afford to experiment with,” he said.
“The team is fully mobilised. We are on track. We are achieving all our initial milestones, and we feel very confident we will be able to successfully commission that part of the plant.
“It is about a 24-month commissioning process and then we will be producing fully qualified US shells, which would be available to sell to US Marines in Australia.”
Shells intended for the ADF would be filled with explosives at the Benalla munitions plant in Victoria.
Australia doesn’t yet manufacture the necessary 155mm shell fuzes though it does have the fuze production capability within their tenancy at Benalla.
“I think there is an appetite for the Australian government to do everything,” he said.
Defence’s Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA) contracted Australian drone company SYPAQ which in turn commissioned Nioa to develop a range of drone warheads.
“Small modular warheads for drones is probably our number one key new product category,” he said.
In the Ukraine conflict, both sides have deployed armed drones, initially equipped with makeshift capabilities such as hand grenades and RPG warheads.
Robert Nioa said what was required was a device which was safe for its operators, would not be activated or malfunction from electronic interference, function in any weather conditions and deliver the suitable effect to its target.
“Trying to save $50 or $70 on a drone is not what tier one nations are trying to do. They want extremely advanced warheads that will function perfectly every time,” he said.
Warhead types include high explosive, fragmentation, armour-piercing, counter-drone fragmentation and dummy practice round.
These feature a US standard mounting system which enables them to be attached to any compatible Australian or ally drone.
“There is a lot of technology in these. We also need to be able to set up mass production,” he said.