NIOA signs AeroVironment and MBDA loitering-munitions partnerships at Land Forces 2026

TLDR

• Australia's NIOA Group and US firm AeroVironment signed a strategic partnership to introduce, sustain and grow loitering-munitions capability, centred on the Switchblade family, across Australia and New Zealand.¹²
• NIOA separately signed an agreement with MBDA to explore domestic Australian manufacture of MBDA's DELUGE one-way-attack drone.¹
• Both deals were announced during Land Forces 2026, the defence exhibition in Perth, between October 6 and 8.¹²
• The AeroVironment deal builds on Australia's 2024 Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance plan, which already called for Switchblade 300's introduction into the Australian Army.²

NIOA Group and AeroVironment announced a strategic partnership at Land Forces 2026 in Perth to support the introduction into service, sustainment and future growth of advanced loitering-munitions capabilities across Australia and New Zealand.¹² The agreement positions NIOA as AeroVironment's local partner for distribution, customer engagement, support and long-term capability development across AeroVironment's portfolio, including the combat-proven Switchblade family of precision loitering munitions.¹

"The Australian GWEO Plan identified the acquisition and introduction into service of Switchblade as a key objective," said Ben James, NIOA's executive vice president for Australia and New Zealand.¹² "Combining NIOA's deep expertise in strategic munitions supply, manufacturing and support with AeroVironment's global leadership in loitering munitions and autonomous systems technology represents a significant win for both the ADF and in the integration of Australian and US industrial bases."¹ AeroVironment vice president of international business development Justin McFarlin said the partnership combines "AeroVironment's combat-proven technologies with a trusted Australian defence industry partner to support customers, strengthen sovereign capability outcomes and establish the foundations for long-term growth across the region."¹²

Separately, NIOA and MBDA signed an agreement to explore Australian manufacture of MBDA's DELUGE, a jet-powered expendable one-way-attack drone that MBDA showcased in Australia for the first time at the same event, ahead of entering production in France next year.¹ DELUGE is designed for saturation attacks through mass, with a range of up to 500 km, a turbojet speed of Mach 0.4 and a 50-kg-class payload.¹ The agreement deepens an existing relationship between the two companies, which signed a separate deal last November to explore domestic warhead production for MBDA's MISTRAL missile suite.¹

Why it matters: two separate agreements signed in the same week show NIOA positioning itself as the default local partner for both US and European loitering-munitions makers entering the Australian market, reflecting how fast demand for cheap, mass-producible strike drones has grown among US-aligned militaries watching the war in Ukraine, and how eager both AeroVironment and MBDA are to lock in local manufacturing and sustainment footholds before competitors do.