Major order for artillery ammunition
After being selected by the Australian Department of Defence as the successful bidder in the hotly contested LAND 400 Phase 2 programme (story here), Rheinmetall will soon deliver various projectile types from the Rheinmetall ASSEGAI family, as well as fuses and propelling charges, supplied by a team consisting of NIOA, Rheinmetall Waffe Munition, Rheinmetall Denel Munition, Nitrochemie and Junghans Defence to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) under its LAND 17 Phase 1C.2 Future Artillery Ammunition project.
The first qualification lots will already be shipped this year. A second partial delivery will take place in 2019. Following successful qualification, Australia will also procure war reserve stocks of the new ammunition.
Encompassing supply of the qualification lot and war reserve stocks, the order – awarded at the end of last year – is worth around AU$100 million (approx. €65 million). The contract also includes several options for further five-year periods, with a total value in the triple-digit million AU$ range, according to the company.
Rheinmetall states that it is the first time a M777A2 field howitzer user nation has opted for the ASSEGAI family.
The ammunition will be supplied via Rheinmetall’s partner NIOA. Headquartered in Brisbane, “NIOA is the largest supplier of ammunition and weapons systems to Australia’s military and law enforcement agencies,” the company says. NIOA has also been cooperating closely with Rheinmetall for decades on other projects. The company joined the Rheinmetall Land400 team in May 2017.
