First exports roll out from Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions

Defence manufacturer Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions’ Queensland artillery shell plant has made its first export shipment to its customer in Germany, as the new factory is moving towards full-rate production.

The Maryborough factory’s workforce has more than doubled to 60 since this time last year, with another 30 vacancies to be filled by July.

Rheinmetall Waffe Munitions CEO and Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions Chairman Roman Koehne toured the $90 million facility for the first time and congratulated the team on the first international shipment to Germany.

A consignment of 155mm shells produced out of Maryborough recently landed at Rheinmetall’s Unterluess Test Centre where they successfully completed dynamic testing.

At full rate production, RNM will have a workforce of up to 100 with the ability to produce up to 100,000 projectiles a year running multiple shifts.

Koehne said factories like the one in Maryborough were the future.

Koehne said: “The level of technology combined with highly-skilled people make this facility the most advanced of its kind in the world.

“The war in Ukraine has showed us that allied nations are increasingly looking for reliable sources that can manufacture the 155mm projectile.

“Rheinmetall has a great partnership with NIOA and together we believe that Maryborough has the potential to serve as a key link in the global munitions supply chain while building Australia’s defence manufacturing base.”

RNM Project Manager Jeff Crabtree said the demand for workers would continue as the plant accelerated capacity.

Roles available include skilled and unskilled operators, trades and apprentices, quality control, IT and security, supply chain and administration support.

Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions Deputy Chairman and NIOA Group CEO Robert Nioa said NIOA would continue to invest in future defence capability.

Nioa said: “NIOA is committed to growing our defence industrial base well into the future.

“High-tech factories like RNM play a significant role in delivering that capability.

“Being able to produce our own ammunition in Australia is not only vital to our national resilience but it creates new jobs and new technologies as well as export potential.”

The joint venture RNM factory by the state government and the federal government’s Regional Growth Fund.

Picture: Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions/a 155mm projectile on the Maryborough production line.