A Royal Australian Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft touches down at RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales (Australia DoD)
BELFAST — Australia has signed a contract to equip its F-35A jets with 25mm PGU-47/U APEX ammunition from Norwegian-Finnish manufacturer Nammo, according to a company statement.
The deal is valued at approximately AUD $22.9 million ($14.2 million US), a spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Defence disclosed to Breaking Defense in a statement today, after Nammo recently announced the order. In December 2024 Australia received a final tranche of 9 F-35A jets to complete a fleet of 72 aircraft.
“This is the first major sale of the APEX ammunition,” a spokesperson for Nammo told Breaking Defense, adding that the company “has made other sales in the past and there are other countries testing or using the APEX ammunition,” but it cannot disclose additional details related to those programs.
APEX ammunition has been specifically designed for the F-35A GAU-22/A cannon. Production for Canberra is set to start this year with deliveries due to run through 2027.
The new rounds offer “a number of operational benefits including the ability to be effective against a range of targets and improved warhead performance and accuracy,” said the Australia DoD spokesperson.
In its company statement, Nammo noted that APEX “combines armor-piercing and explosive effects in a single round.”
The manufacturer added that the ammunition can also be “effective” against “armored, semi-armored, and light targets.”
The armor piercing capability is derived from a tungsten carbide penetrator, while the explosive warhead includes “delayed initiation, delivering blast, fragmentation, and incendiary effects inside the target,” according to the company.
Nammo and a number of key partners including the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (FMA) and the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) spent “substantial resources” and close to two decades on research, development, testing, and qualification in order to reach APEX F-35A flight release.
In practice, gun-to-gun and close-in combat engagements are unlikely scenarios for the F-35, which can rely on more lethal weaponry and advanced mission systems to deter or defeat adversaries.
The platforms can also carry Aim-9X Sidewinder and Aim-120 AMRAAM air-to-air-missiles, GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) guided bombs and laser-guided bombs, according to a Royal Australian Air Force factsheet.
The Lockheed Martin fifth-generation fighter is the backbone of Australian combat air power, alongside Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers.
As part of a Super Hornet replacement project worth up to $3 billion AUD ($1.9 billion USD), Canberra had planned on acquiring additional F-35s but that looks to be in doubt after Pat Conroy, Australia’s defence industry minister, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation last year that, “we can delay the replacement of the Super Hornet which frees up funding to invest in more long‑range missiles.”
