16:56 GMT, February 2, 2012 Nammo has decided to establish a permanent presence in Australia to better service the Australian Armed Forces, expand sales and strengthen industrial partnering in the region.

Rob Wellwood, Managing Director of the newly established Nammo Australia Pty Ltd, said “Nammo’s already well known within the Australian defense customer for its long standing supply of multipurpose ammunition and the ubiquitous M72 shoulder fired weapons systems, but we make a range of other specialty munitions that are equally well suited to Australian defense requirements.”

Nammo’s continuing development of 25mm ammunition for the F35 Lightning II is also significant for Australia. Nammo, with the support of the Norwegian Ministry of Defense, has been working on the new Armour Piercing and Explosive (APEX) ammunition since 2004. “The APEX ammunition that Nammo has developed for the F35 is an evolution beyond our successful multipurpose concept.”, said Rob. “Extensive testing of the APEX round has already shown its superior effectiveness against both soft and hard targets; something that’s incredibly important for the F35 system and its limited ammunition storage capacity.”

Meanwhile, Ola Skrivervik, Senior Vice President of Business Development for the Nammo group, said “The decision to set up a permanent full-time presence in Australia is a firm sign of Nammo’s commitment to the Australian customer - the intention is to provide the customer with a single, dedicated point of contact from the time of initial enquiry all the way through to order delivery. Additionally, the new office will work to foster stronger industrial ties in the region.”

Nammo Australia Pty Ltd was established in January 2012.