Gladstone-founded business to develop new guns for $7M

How business that started in the back of CQ servo grew to export to world’s biggest defence companies.

NIOA CEO Rob Nioa, who grew up in Gladstone, and now is exporting guns and ammunition to the biggest ammunition dealers in the world. Picture : Matthew Williamson

A BUSINESS that started in the back of a Gladstone Service Station in the 1970s has been awarded a $7 million contract to modernise weapons, including machine guns, sniper rifles and pistols for the Australian Defence Force.

NIOA was launched by Bill and Barbara Nioa from their service station that doubled as a gun shop at 78 Toolooa Street, supplying local farmers and sporting shooters.

Bill Nioa began with a tiny office and only 10 guns when the business launched in 1973.

Now NIOA is run by Bill and Barbara’s son Rob, who exports to the worlds biggest defence companies, but he will never forget the company’s roots.

‘’NIOA is proud of its history in Queensland and my family’s Gladstone servo has a unique place in that story,’’ Rob said.

Bob and Barbara Nioa had a roadside stall in the Gladstone region selling guns and ammunition in the 1970s. Now the NIOA brand exports worldwide to some of the biggest ammunition and weapons dealers in the world.

The contract is the first stage of the Land 159 Leathality Systems project, which will replace and modernise 26 weapons systems including pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, direct fire support weapons and munitions.

NIOA will invest $130m over the next five years in domestic munitions and explosives including a new $60m artillery shell forging plant in Maryborough that will create 100 ongoing jobs, an expansion of its 8000 sq m Brisbane engineering, research and development facility.

“For NIOA, the LAND 159 program is all about the future in every way,” Rob said.

“The next generation of weapon systems, the next generation of Australia’s defence industry and, most importantly, the next generation of the ADF.

“The work of these young men and women will be entrusted to us by their families and the nation.

“Their safety, and their ability to successfully complete their missions is of the utmost importance and NIOA will play a role in ensuring that they have the best equipment possible.’’

The NIOA arms and ammunition store in Gladstone after they branched out from their beginnings in a service station on Toolooa Street.

Munitions and small arms research, design, development and manufacture have been identified as one of the government’s top 10 Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities.

Earlier this month, NIOA took up a 10-year cotenancy at the Benalla munitions plant, producing medium and large calibre rounds for the ADF.

Central to the successful NIOA LAND 159 bid was the engagement of Australian businesses in the supply chain underpinned by a longer-term vision to become a global exporter to allied defence forces around the world.

“The benefits of this program are expected to reverberate through the whole economy for decades to come,” he said.

“This is the largest ever small arms replenishment program for the ADF and NIOA is very proud to be selected after a competitive tender process.

“Australian industry participation and collaboration is embedded in our strategy. What that means is that for the life of the program the ownership, the intellectual property, the jobs, the skills, the investment, the profits and the control will remain within Australia.”

“What this shows is that NIOA’s investment is not only delivering national defence capability but also regional manufacturing jobs that in turn helps communities flourish and grow,” Mr Nioa said.

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