Work has started in Melbourne on two 85-metre, 1600- tonne offshore patrol vessels for the Royal New Zealand Navy. Contractor Tenix Defence began cutting steel for the two new vessels after New Zealand Secretary of Defence Graham Fortune switched on computerised cutting equipment at Tenix’s Williamstown base. The vessels are part of Project Protector, in which a total of seven ships will be provided for the Navy.
The NZDF's Naval advisor in Australia, Commander Margareth Stumpel (right), and New Zealand's defence attaché, Air Commodore Gavin Howse at the steel cutting ceremony.
Photo:Tenix Defence Pty Ltd
Three hundred Territorial Force personnel exercised in the Napier region at the end of February. The exercise used the Army’s new light armoured vehicles (NZLAV) and Pinzgauer light operational vehicles (LOV) as well as Air Force helicopters.
Troops and vehicles exercised in the vicinity of Roys Hill and State Highway 50; Fern Hill along the Ngaruroro River downstream from Poporangi Stream; Tutaekuri River downstream from Dartmoor; and the Tongoio forest area bounded by State Highway 2 and State Highway 5.