Australia's NIOA establishes firm to support co-operation on producing guided weapons

Australian munitions specialist NIOA has established a new company to support the local development and production of guided weapons. The Queensland-based company said on 24 May that its new subsidiary – the Australian Missile Corporation (AMC) – is geared towards facilitating missile-production co-operation between industry, academia, and government.

NIOA added that the Australian Missile Corporation is a direct response to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s announcement in late March that the government plans to manufacture its own missiles and guided weapons under a AUD1 billion (USD775 million) plan to establish a “sovereign guided weapons enterprise” in partnership with a “strategic industry partner”.

“Since the prime minister’s announcement, many companies – international prime contractors and Australian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) alike – have contacted NIOA seeking guidance as to how best they could participate in the future guided weapons enterprise,” said Robert Nioa, the CEO of NIOA.

He added that NIOA’s response has been to “establish the Australian Missile Corporation as a team of like-minded defence organisations willing and able to support the new enterprise”. Nioa added that potential stakeholders in the corporation could register their interest on the new AMC website, australianmissilecorporation.com.au.

On its website AMC indicates that capability will be required across many domains to support efforts to establish a guided weapons enterprise in Australia. These include missile assembly; seeker component production; warhead production; metal parts fabrication; testing ranges; guidance and control production; simulation and modelling; and hypersonic research and development.