Contributions to High Level Outcomes
The NZDF has contributed primarily to Government Priority Number 3 – “To Strengthen National Identity: celebrate our identity in a world as people who support and defend freedom and fairness.”
NZDF personnel from the bases and facilities of the three Services that make up the Defence Force are integral members of their communities. Moreover, the presence of NZDF people at occasions of local and national significance, including commemoration and remembrance services, is a reminder of the contribution being made by the NZDF to reducing armed conflict in the world.
Indeed, many of New Zealand’s values are played out through its foreign and defence policies. The NZDF continues to contribute to the Government’s National Identity theme through its main high level outcome: “New Zealand Secure and Protected from External Threats now and in the Future”, and seeks to sustain its effort through the various intermediate outcomes as shown below.
While New Zealand does not face any direct military threat, a growing number of transnational security challenges, with implications for New Zealand, have created a complex and uncertain strategic environment. In response to these challenges, the NZDF has contributed the following to secure New Zealand.
Intermediate Outcome 1: Secure New Zealand
In meeting our mission, we provided contributions to sovereignty protection, deterrence, incident and crisis response, including counter–terrorism, civil defence and other emergencies.
A dedicated Special Forces counter–terrorism unit works in close cooperation with the New Zealand Police to respond to potential terrorist incidents. Complementing this, a dedicated Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) capability is being established to deal with chemical, biological, radiological and explosive devices.
We have also worked closely on a day to day basis with agencies including Antarctic New Zealand, the New Zealand Customs Service, the National Maritime Coordination Centre, the Department of Conservation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ministry of Fisheries, Maritime New Zealand, and New Zealand Police to ensure a whole of government approach to securing New Zealand’s borders and resources is achieved, including the protection of the fourth largest EEZ in the world. We also assisted with civil defence efforts, including flood relief in Northland.
Intermediate Outcome 2: Reduced Risks From Regional and Global Insecurity Through:
A Secure, Peaceful and Stable Australia
The partnership between the New Zealand and Australian Defence Forces has a long and proud history, as highlighted by the recent dedication of the bronze sculpture of a World War I New Zealand soldier on Sydney’s Anzac Bridge.
The sculpture complements the statue of an Australian soldier, which has stood at the western end of Anzac Bridge since 2000, and is a fitting reminder of the sacrifice of the Anzac servicemen and women, and the special bond between Australia and New Zealand.
Our partnership’s ongoing success requires the Australian and New Zealand defence forces to continue to invest in combined planning, joint training, shared doctrine, interoperable equipment and good communications to pursue our shared strategic interests, including a secure and stable regional neighbourhood.
NZDF force elements also participated in, or supported units, deploying to exercises with or in Australia.
HMNZS Te Mana supported the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Principal Warfare Officer assessment week and HMNZS Te Kaha participated in Exercise Aswex 07 – a joint, combined maritime anti–submarine warfare exercise held off Perth.
The new amphibious sealift ship, HMNZS Canterbury, also took part in Exercise Sealion in the Townsville and inner Great Barrier Reef areas off Australia’s eastern coast to improve operational readiness and interoperability.
The Army were involved with Exercises Tasman Exchange 08 (joint combined indirect fire support), Tasman Warrior 07 (LAV company deployment) and Tasman Reserve 08 (TF exchange).
The Air Force participated in Exercises Aswex 07 and Tamex (combined and joint maritime/air exercises) and Tropic 07 – a tropical flying training exercise based at Townsville.
Also, NZDF personnel participated in bilateral defence dialogue, including Army–to–Army and Air–to–Air talks, discussed the coordination of our Defence Mutual Assistance Programme (MAP) and the Defence Cooperation Program, attended courses, and had postings, exchanges and visits to Australia.
A Secure, Peaceful and Stable South Pacific
In the South Pacific, the NZDF provided contributions to regional security engagement and assistance, training and development assistance through the MAP, resource protection, and disaster relief.
We were responsible for patrolling six million square miles of ocean, including much of the South Pacific, conducting surveillance, fisheries patrols and search and rescue operations. NZDF personnel also participated in a new initiative – Pacific Partnership 2007 – a United States–led humanitarian assistance and civic action mission to countries throughout the South Pacific and South–East Asia.
Another example of the region’s Defence Forces pooling their skills and capabilities is New Zealand Navy and United States Coast Guard (USCG) personnel working together as part of a Pacific regional maritime surveillance and fisheries protection operation involving the New Zealand Maritime Coordination Centre and the Fisheries Forum Agency. Other countries involved included Australia, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Cook Islands and France.
The Air Force also took part in a multi–agency exercise involving New Zealand, Australia, Samoa, Cook Islands, the Forum Fisheries Agency and the USCG aimed to catch and deter people from illegal fishing in Pacific countries’ EEZs.
The NZDF also participated in a six–nation exercise in Noumea, Exercise Croix Du Sud 2008, which brought together military forces from France, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea to practice joint and combined training for disaster relief–type activities.
NZDF tri–service involvement included HMNZS Canterbury, a detached hydrographic support unit, an infantry platoon, two Iroquois helicopters and support personnel.
A 40–strong contingent of NZDF medics deployed to the Cook Islands by C–130 Hercules aircraft under Exercise Tropic Twilight, to provide health and dental support.
The NZDF also conducted a number of ancillary tasks in the region including delivering emergency supplies by C–130 Hercules for victims of severe flooding in the eastern province of Oro in Papua New Guinea.
A Secure and Stable Asia–Pacific Region
In promoting a secure, stable Asia–Pacific region, we have maintained regular contact and dialogue, assistance, confidence–building measures, conflict deterrence, and ongoing support to regional security arrangements, including participation in the annual Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) joint maritime and air defence exercise.
As well as the ongoing deployment to Timor–Leste to promote stability, the NZDF participated in various land exercises with Singapore, a maritime defence exercise with Japan and the Republic of Korea, and undertook MAP activities with countries including China, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
Military–to–military talks were also held with Vietnam and the NZDF also participated in a tri–nation maritime exercise with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the Peoples Liberation Army (Navy).
As in previous years, the NZDF participated in Exercise Bersama Padu, one of a series of major FPDA joint and combined exercises, field training and command post exercises that focused on the operational and tactical levels. Exercise Bersama Padu 07 was hosted by the Republic of Singapore Navy, and conducted in a multi–threat environment for the defence of Malaysia and Singapore. NZDF force elements that participated in the exercise were HMNZ Ships Te Kaha and Endeavour, an operational diving team, and a P–3K Orion aircraft.
The NZDF participated in bilateral exercises with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF): Exercise Lion Zeal (bilateral briefings, war gaming exercise and a sea phase with the Republic of Singapore Navy), Exercise Lion Heart (bilateral special forces training), Exercise Thunder Warrior (a collaborative live–firing exercise that involved about 500 personnel from the SAF and a single six gun battery–sized unit from the 16th Field Regiment), and Exercise Kiwi Spirit, a reciprocal bi–annual arrangement with the SAF, which enabled the New Zealand Army to practice operational planning at Brigade Headquarters level within a conventional war–fighting scenario. In addition, 2/1st Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment deployed a Rifle Company to Malaysia for Exercise Taiaha Tombak 07.
HMNZ Ships Te Kaha, Te Mana and Endeavour conducted successful defence diplomacy visits to Japan, China, Malaysia and Singapore. No 5 Squadron RNZAF sent a P–3K Orion to an exercise with the navies of the Republic of Korea and Japan.
A More Secure and Stable World
In the global arena, we have contributed to collective security operations, peacekeeping, and peace–enforcement conducted by the United Nations and other multinational agencies.
Our personnel served in United Nations missions in Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan, the Republic of Korea, Kosovo and elsewhere.
In Afghanistan our troops with the ongoing Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), now strengthened with an additional 18 NZDF personnel, work with and are respected by local people.
Over the reporting period, the NZDF continued to train and be equipped for combat, as it has in the past with the deployment of our Special Forces to Afghanistan.
Early in the reporting period, ten NZDF personnel deployed to Lebanon where they were part of the UN effort to clear unexploded munitions in Southern Lebanon. The NZDF commitment comprised a ten–person EOD team attached to the UN Mine Action Co–ordination Centre in southern Lebanon (UNMACC–SL).
This commitment has now ended, with nearly a third of a million square miles of land cleared of mines and more than 1,800 unexploded cluster bombs and munitions destroyed.
As part of New Zealand’s contribution to the international campaign against terrorism, HMNZS Te Mana left to join coalition maritime forces stationed in the Persian Gulf.
Te Mana is monitoring shipping activity to promote the free flow of commerce, protect infrastructure and counter terrorism, piracy and drugs, arms and people smuggling.
This is the third time one or more NZDF frigates have deployed to the Gulf region. Both HMNZ Ships Te Kaha and Te Mana went in 2003 and HMNZS Te Mana was deployed in 2004.
Intermediate Outcome 3: New Zealand Values and Interests Advanced Through Participation in Regional and International Security Systems
Contributions to this outcome included the following:
- Ongoing support was provided to UN missions (see section on Output Expense 16 – Operationally Deployed Forces, for more detail.)
- New Zealand was represented at Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) Operational Experts Group meetings by an interagency team comprising officials from the NZDF, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the New Zealand Customs Service. In addition, a RNZAF P–3K Orion aircraft and crew participated alongside an interagency team in a multinational PSI exercise in Japan in October as part of its commitment to preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
- The NZDF was represented at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Intersessional Meeting on Disaster Relief held in Finland in October 2007 and the Intersessional Group and Defence Dialogue meetings in Brunei (November 2007) and Ottawa (April 2008). In addition, a Defence official attended the ARF Senior Officials Meeting and Security Policy Conference in Singapore in May 2008. New Zealand was represented at the Five Power Defence Arrangements Consultative Committee meeting held in Singapore in November 2007 and NZDF was in attendance at the informal meeting of FPDA Ministers held in the margins of the Shangri–La dialogue in June 2008.
- CDF New Zealand hosted the biennial BRITANZ conference in Wellington in February 2008 at which a wide range of professional, operational and strategic issues was discussed with counterparts from the United Kingdom and Australia. In March 2008 the NZDF co–hosted the ASEAN Regional Forum Peacekeeping Experts Meeting in Singapore and provided a number of subject matter experts on peacekeeping operations and the whole–of–government approach.
- A Chief of Defence symposium on security was held at Trentham. Speakers included representatives from the US National Defence University, Australian Border Protection Command, the universities of Otago and Victoria, New Zealand Customs Service, NZ Police, and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
- NZDF personnel attended various five–nation standardisation meetings; North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Standardisation Agency meetings; and other seminars, workshops, courses, postings/secondments and exchanges with various overseas countries.
- Participation in the Defence Mutual Assistance Programme (see Output 15.1 for more detail).
Intermediate Outcome 4: New Zealand able to meet Future National Security Challenges
The aim of this outcome is directly related to the Defence Policy Framework and the Government’s Statement of 8 May 2001 – A Modern, Sustainable Defence Force matched to New Zealand’s needs. The NZDF’s contribution to this outcome has been to undertake planning for the future, especially for sustainable future capability requirements. The NZDF and the MoD use a suite of planning aids including strategic guidance, evidence–based decision support tools, strategic assessments, capability goals matrices and research/lessons learned.
We have also contributed to the Government’s priority themes of Economic Transformation and Families – young and old: including encouraging innovation and high standards in education and training; promoting a healthy Defence Industry in New Zealand; maintaining the security and well being of all New Zealanders through supporting the NZ Police, the NZ Customs Service, Ministry of Emergency Management, Civil Defence and other agencies; assisting Veterans groups; providing courses for the Limited Service Volunteer (LSV) Scheme; and supporting the NZ Cadet Forces.
Previous | Contents | Next