NIOA sets sights on Apache ammo supply
Australian weapons and munitions prime NIOA and US aerospace and defence company General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GDOTS) have signed an agreement to collaborate on the potential supply of 70mm rockets to equip the Australian Army’s new Apache helicopters.
FILE PHOTO: An Australian Army AH-64E Apache from the 1st Aviation Regiment, flies at Lavarack Barracks, Townsville, 27 November 2025. Photo by Sergeant Jarrod McAneney.
The potential supply of these rockets to the ADF would build upon current ADF 70mm rocket supply arrangements through Foreign Military Sales.
The multiple natures of Hydra-70 rockets are key munitions for the Australian Defence Force’s incoming AH-64E Apache helicopter fleet being delivered under Project LAND 4503.
Subject to appropriate US-government approvals, the companies intend to explore opportunities for Australian assembly of the rockets, offering increased flexibility, shorter lead times, assured domestic supply and overall lower life-cycle cost for these munitions.
NIOA Australia-New Zealand CEO Ben James said the agreement further extended the NIOA/GDOTS relationship and represented a key sovereign munitions-production opportunity in support of the ADF and forward-deployed US troops.
“The 2024 Defence Industrial Development Strategy emphasised the importance of international industrial partnerships to build the strategic weight Australia needs to shape the future,” Mr James said.
“Manufacturing warheads and key munitions for Apache would represent a key step in realising that objective.
“Recent international events have further highlighted the critical nature of sovereign supply chains and manufacturing capacity.”
In line with the Commonwealth’s Defence Industrial Development Strategy goals, NIOA and GDOTS will assess which components of the system might cost-effectively be manufactured in Australia, with a view to seeking transfer of production to the Australian defence industrial base.
On establishment of local assembly arrangements for Hydra-70 rockets, there is expected to be an increase in skilled jobs at the Australian-government owned, contractor-operated munitions facility at Benalla, Victoria, where NIOA operates ammunition and primary-explosive manufacturing capabilities.
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