PHOTO CAPTION: Australian Army 4REG soldiers test the new Assegai 155mm projectile. Courtesy: Channel 7NEWS Townsville

NIOA has welcomed the Australian Army’s successful live-fire exercise of the Assegai 155mm munition, marking a significant milestone in advancing battlefield lethality.

Soldiers from the Townsville-based 4th Artillery Regiment (4REG) have become the first to send the new projectile down the range during Exercise Shot Start.

“It is longer, it is extreme range for us – over 30km which adds at least 30 per cent to our current in-service ammunition range,” 4th Regiment Commanding Officer Lt-Col Simon Frewin told Channel 7 News.

“We need less rounds to achieve what we used to, and each round does more in terms of explosive at the other end than we had before.”

NIOA and supply partners JUNGHANS Microtec GmbH, Nitrochemie Aschau GmbH and Rheinmetall Denel Munitions have worked in close collaboration with Defence to deliver and integrate Assegai round into the Army’s M777A2 howitzers under the LAND 17-1 C.2 Future Artillery Ammunition program.

The modular Assegai projectile variants include conventional HE, Insensitive Munition High Explosive (IHE), IHE Pre-Fragmented (PFF), screening smoke, illumination (infrared and visual), base-bleed practice and inert projectiles. The Velocity Enhanced Long Range Artillery Projectile (V-LAP) provides a growth path to greater range and affordable precision.

NIOA Australia-New Zealand CEO Ben James said: “We congratulate Army on the successful completion of this live-fire exercise.

“The Assegai munition offers significant improvements in range, lethality and adaptability over current 155mm munition inventories, with various warhead configuration, including precision guided variants, smoke, and illumination rounds.

“It reinforces NIOA’s commitment to equipping the men and women of the Australian Army with the most advanced, effective munitions.”