Opinion: Australia’s refusal to deploy a warship to support the multinational effort to secure global maritime trade corridors has rightfully raised a few eyebrows. Concerningly, it reinforces serious questions about the Australian Defence Force’s capacity to actively defend our interests in the Indo-Pacific.

I feel like a bit of a broken record, constantly reminding people that our world has rapidly changed and it definitely hasn’t been for the better.

Just in the last quarter of this year, we have seen the rapid deterioration of the global security paradigm and the position of the United States as the world’s pre-eminent superpower responsible for maintaining global prosperity and stability.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the ongoing collapse of global maritime security in the Middle East, which, despite the presence of overwhelming military might from the US and a coalition of partners ranging from the United Kingdom, France and Japan to the small island nation of Seychelles, continues to decline.

Noticeably absent from the global coalition is America’s “loyal deputy”, Australia, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reportedly denying a request from the US to provide a warship, instead highlighting Australia’s primary focus was on our immediate region.

Now, many will say rightfully so, and I do agree, except this government has proudly declared that Australia’s “strategic doctrine” moving forward would be based on a concept of “impactful projection” in the Indo-Pacific, as we are repeatedly reminded by the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles, who said earlier in the year:

“I think, increasingly, we’re going to need to think about our defence force in terms of being able to provide the country with impactful projection, impactful projection, meaning an ability to hold an adversary at risk, much further from our shores, across kind of the full spectrum of proportionate response. Now, that is actually a different mindset to what we’ve probably had before.”

With that in mind, why then have we declined the US request to provide a warship to support the multinational effort to secure critical sea lines of communication through the Middle East, and what does it say about our capacity to enforce “impactful projection”?

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To my eyes, it reveals a startling lack of “true” defence capability at a time when the world is becoming more dangerous, not less.

Something Greg Sheridan highlights in The Australian, where he states: “Not for decades have we been so radically unprepared militarily, and incapable, as we are now.”

“There is one overriding reason we can’t send a ship. None of the 10 operational surface fleet vessels we allegedly have available (seven Anzac frigates currently operational and three air warfare destroyers) has any counter-drone defence capabilities …

“The other reason we can’t send a ship is we don’t have enough crew. One of our notional eight Anzacs is more or less permanently mothballed. The ADF has been losing personnel at more than 10 per cent a year and radically underperforming in recruitment. We couldn’t sustain even a one-ship deployment in the Red Sea indefinitely.”

Yet for the Australian public, this reality is all a bit “eh”.

Don’t believe me? I invite you to raise it with your family and friends over the Christmas and New Year period and report back in the comments section.

Ask your family and friends, do they have home and contents insurance – because that is what our nation’s defence force is for.

Ask your family and friends, have they made use of the internet, mobile banking or travelled overseas – because that is what our nation’s defence force is for.

Ask your family and friends, have they purchased a new car, used prescription medication or even used fertiliser in their garden – because that is what our nation’s defence force is for.

Ask your family and friends, would they miss their Sunday drives, cheap consumer goods, luxury cars and steady access to life-saving medication – because if they say yes, that is what our nation’s defence force is for.

With that in mind, I have a challenge for all of us in the new year: It is to remind people, without being alarmist or “reactionary”, that our modern way of life in this “lucky country” depends now more than ever on having a robust, lethal and deployable military.

Get involved with the discussion and let us know your thoughts on Australia’s future role and position in the Indo-Pacific region and what you would like to see from Australia’s political leaders in terms of partisan and bipartisan agenda setting in the comments section below, or get in touch at [email protected] or at [email protected].

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One of the world’s most exclusive superyachts has berthed in the Northland port of Ōpua for a two-week stay.

The 80-metre Artefact is owned by Canadian tech entrepreneur Mike Lazaridis, best known for creating the BlackBerry mobile device.

Built in Germany in 2020 at an estimated cost of $240 million and named Motor Yacht of the Year in 2021, Artefact is one of the world’s biggest superyachts by volume.

It is also believed to be the biggest motor yacht to visit the Bay of Islands.

The vessel arrived just after 1pm on Tuesday and was piloted to Ōpua wharf by the harbourmaster vessel Waikare.

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Artefact is expected to stay in the Bay of Islands until New Year’s Day.

It boasts a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system, a range of 5300 nautical miles and a crew of 17, including two chefs and a sous chef.

The vessel is notable for the sheer amount of glass on the passenger decks – 70 tonnes of glass went into its construction – and interior features such as a high-ceilinged tai chi room designed so that practitioners of the martial art can hold a sword above their heads.

Lazaridis, 62, was born in Turkey to Greek parents, who moved to Canada when he was a child. At the age of 12, he won a prize for reading every science book in the library at Windsor, his home town in Ontario.

After founding BlackBerry, he went on to specialise in quantum computing. He has donated large sums of money to theoretical physics research.

When Lazaridis was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014, he was described as the father of what later became known as the smartphone.

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It was not known whether he was on board when Artefact docked on Tuesday afternoon.

Irwin Wilson, commercial manager of port authority Far North Holdings, said the visit of the “magnificent” vessel was a sign of the Bay of Islands’ post-Covid recovery and a bumper season on the water.

Artefact was joined in the bay on Tuesday by the boutique cruise ship Crystal Symphony, one of a record 93 cruise ships expected this season.

Though many more small cruise ships were calling in this year, the number of passengers would also be a record as long as there were no cancellations due to weather or other factors this year.

The season would ramp up after January 18 with three ships on one day on 31 January. The biggest ship, Ovation of the Seas with 4180 passengers, was due back on February 12.

Wilson said cruise ships played an important role in the economy of the Bay of Islands, and Northland, because they brought “fresh money” into the region rather than just the money locals recycling among themselves.

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With each passenger spending on average $180 on shore, that added up to $23m this season, he said.

By Peter de Graaf of rnz.co.nz

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In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers, F-16 fighter jets, South Korean Air Force F-15K fighter jets and Japanese Air Force F-2 fighter jets fly over South Korea’s southern island of Jeju during a joint air drill, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea — The United States flew long-range bombers for joint drills with South Korea and Japan on Wednesday in a show of force against North Korea, days after the North performed its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in five months.

The trilateral training off South Korea’s southern island of Jeju was meant to strengthen the countries’ joint response against North Korean nuclear threats, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The exercise involved B-1B bombers and South Korean and Japanese fighter jets, the statement said. It said the B-1Bs’ flyover is the 13th time that a U.S. bomber has been temporarily deployed near and over the Korean Peninsula this year.

The B-1B is capable of carrying a large conventional weapons payload. North Korean has previously called the bomber’s deployment a proof of U.S. hostility and had reacted with missile tests.

North Korea on Monday launched a Hwasong-18 ICBM into the sea in a drill it said was meant as a warning over the U.S. and South Korea’s confrontational steps. North Korea cited a recent U.S.-South Korean meeting to discuss their nuclear deterrence plans.

The U.S., South Korea and Japan slammed the launch as a provocation, noting it violated multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban any ballistic activities by the North.

The Hwasong-18, a solid-fueled missile, is the North’s newest and most advanced ICBM. Its built-in solid propellant makes launches harder to detect than liquid-fueled missiles, which must be fueled for liftoffs. Monday’s launch is the Hwasong-18′s third firing this year.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the launch showed how North Korea could respond if the United States were to make “a wrong decision against it.” But many foreign experts say the North still has technological obstacles to overcome to possess functioning nuclear-armed ICBM that can hit the continental U.S.

Since last year, North Korea has conducted about 100 ballistic missile tests in what outside experts call a bid to modernize its nuclear arsenal and win greater U.S. concessions. In response, the U.S. and South Korea expanded their military drills, strengthened security cooperation with Japan and increased the temporary deployment of powerful U.S. military assets such as bombers and nuclear-powered submarines in South Korea.

Despite its torrid run of ballistic missile tests, North Korea has avoided new international sanctions as China and Russia, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, stymied any council responses to the North’s testing activities. In an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday over the North’s ICBM launch, North Korean and Russian diplomats clashed with U.S., South Korean and other diplomats.

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The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, arrives in Halifax on Oct. 28, 2022. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford and one other warship to remain in the Mediterranean Sea for several more weeks to maintain a two-carrier presence near Israel as its war with Hamas grinds on, U.S. officials said.

It would be the third time the Ford’s deployment has been extended, underscoring the continued concerns about volatility in the region during Israel’s war in Gaza. The U.S. has two aircraft carriers in the region, a rarity in recent years.

Multiple U.S. officials confirmed the longer deployments approved for the Ford and the cruiser Normandy on condition of anonymity because they have not yet been made public. Other ships in the Ford’s strike group already have had their deployments extended.

The Ford’s roughly 5,000 sailors have been waiting for a Pentagon decision on whether they would get to go home for the holidays. The ship left Norfolk, Virginia, in early May to deploy to U.S. European Command, and under its original schedule it would have been home by early November.

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The Pentagon ramped up its military presence in the region after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks to deter Iran from widening the war into a regional conflict. In the months since, Iranian-backed militants in Iraq and Syria have seized on the war to conduct regular attacks with rockets, drones and missiles on U.S. military installations there.

At the same time, U.S. warships in the Red Sea have intercepted incoming missiles fired toward Israel from areas of Yemen controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. They’ve also shot down one-way attack drones headed toward the ships and responded to calls for assistance from commercial vessels that have come under persistent Houthi attacks near the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

As of Friday, there were 19 U.S. warships in the region, including seven in the eastern Mediterranean and 12 more stretched down the Red Sea, across the Arabian Sea and up into the Persian Gulf.

Austin ordered the Ford and its strike group to sail to the eastern Mediterranean on Oct. 8, a day after the attack by Hamas that set off the war.

The decision to keep the Ford — the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier — in the region comes as Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said Thursday it will take months to destroy Hamas, predicting a drawn-out war.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Israeli leaders to discuss a timetable for winding down major combat in Gaza, but they repeated their determination to press the fight until Hamas is crushed.

The original plan was for the Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier strike group to replace the Ford in the region. But Austin had decided to extend the Ford’s deployment and have both the Eisenhower and Ford covering the waters from southern Europe to the Middle East, Sabrina Singh, in a Pentagon briefing on Oct. 17.

U.S. military commanders have long touted the effectiveness of American aircraft carriers as a deterrent, including against attacks, hijackings and other aggressive behavior by Iran and its ships, including strikes on commercial ships in the Red Sea by the Houthis.

Officials said the plan is to keep the Ford there for several more weeks.

The Eisenhower is in the Gulf of Oman and has been patrolling in the Middle East along with the Navy cruiser Philippine Sea. Three warships — the Nay destroyers Carney, the Stethem and the Mason — have been moving through the Bab el-Mandeb daily to help deter and respond to attacks from the Houthis.

Other ships that are part of the Ford’s strike group include the destroyers Thomas Hudner, Ramage, Carney and Roosevelt.

While the U.S. regularly maintained two aircraft carriers in the Middle East during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, in recent years it has tried to turn its attention and naval presence to the Asia Pacific.

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The ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary are a vital part of the UK naval capability but the past year has been a story of very mixed fortunes for the service. Here we look at the current status of the fleet.

Pay rise or bust

While there is growing concern about declining personnel numbers in the RN, the crisis is in the RFA is even more acute. Despite the attractions of generally more varied and exciting service in support of the RN than working in the commercial sector, fundamentally RFA salaries are increasingly uncompetitive. There is a global shortage of mariners and it is very easy for sailors to move to better-paid jobs. The commercial sector has faced up to the reality of inflation and greater competition and is paying much higher salaries than a few years ago. RFA pay structures are hamstrung by the Navy’s budget and government trying to exercise pay restraint.

Between 2021-22, the number of RFA sailors declined from 1,840 to 1,750, a loss of nearly 5% from a workforce that was already overstretched and numbers continued to fall this year. Many RFA vessels are now operating a Tailored Scheme of Compliment (TSOC), the minimum level of crew possible to run the ship safely which can mean being 20-30% short-handed. The RFA is currently short of at least 70 deck ratings alone, a large proportion amongst a relatively small organisation. Marine engineers are in especially short supply and the average age of those still loyally serving is increasing due to a failure to attract new recruits.

Navy Command has begun to explore the possibilities of small-scale outsourcing, whereby Serco might supply qualified mariners on FTRS contracts to backfill workforce gaps. This system can also provide specialists with the expertise needed to operate non-typical platforms like RFA Proteus. Outsourcing may be a partial solution but is not an affordable way to deliver the overall number of people needed.

Both the Nautilus Union which represents officers and the RMT Union which represents about 500 other RFA sailors have balloted their members on strike action which is likely to take place in the new year. The unions quite rightly point out the 4.5 % pay offer made in 2023 is well below the rate of inflation and since 2010, RFA mariners have faced a pay cut in real terms of over 30%. Until the leadership is funded and empowered to considerably increase salaries, there are very few other solutions that will properly remedy this crisis and expect to see more ships laid up for lack of sailors if action is not taken quickly.

Two steps forward…

On paper, the RFA actually grew in size this year from 11 ships to 13. Another major positive for 2023 was that finally the Fleet Solid Support ships contract has been signed and steel will be cut for the first ship in 2025. The fleet continued to provide its usual high-quality support to the RN on operations, although on a modest scale in comparison with years past.

The most high-profile activity for the RFA was the deployment of the Littoral Response Group (South). Having been in the planning for several years, RFA Argus and RFA Lyme Bay were due to be based in the Middle East operating from Duqm and potentially conducting operations over a wide area from the Gulf of Aden to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. The conflict in Israel erupted just as the ships were leaving the UK and they were rushed to the eastern Mediterranean. They have spent the last few weeks alongside in Limassol and off Cyprus awaiting developments.

Initially, it was thought they might be needed to evacuate UK citizens if the conflict spread but subsequently, they are being considered for deployment on a humanitarian aid operation to Gaza. One proposal is that Israeli forces would be allowed to search aid supplies being loaded onto the ships in Cyprus before they are used to deliver aid to Gaza. As there is no viable port this would likely involve delivery of supplies across beaches and by helicopter. Considerable risk would be attached to such an operation as Hamas and other assorted Palestinian and Islamic militias cannot be relied on to cooperate.

…three steps back

Despite a fleet of ships that numbers 13 vessels on paper, the frontline reality is rather different. Although credible sources suggested that the two laid-up tankers, RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler would be put up for sale to a foreign navy, the MoD insists they will remain in ‘Extended Readiness’ until 2028. Wave Knight was laid up in 2022 while Wave Ruler has been inactive since 2018 and there is little prospect they will return to service anytime in the near future. RFA Fort Victoria has been inactive since the end of 2021 and after a planned refit in 2022 has spent time in Devonport and Leith but is now back at Cammell Laird. Needing further maintenance work and the general crew shortage means she remains in Birkenhead for some time. Hopefully, she will emerge in time to support the carrier strike group deployment in 2025.

RFA Tiderace entered refit at Cammell Laird in February 2023, the maintenance package has been completed but the ship is still in Birkenhead. The RFA simply cannot find the 60 sailors needed to crew this tanker that only entered service in 2018. Although RFA Tideforce did provide support to both carrier deployments in the Autumn, the three active tankers have mostly remained in Northern European waters or the North Atlantic. Additional replenishment vessels, particularly East of Suez would be very useful right now but it appears it is not possible to deploy a tanker in support of the RN and its allies in the area in a way that used to be routine.

The MoD had promised RFA Proteus would begin underwater infrastructure patrols in the Summer of 2023 but she did not leave the shipyard until September. She was formally named in a high-profile ceremony in London in early October. She subsequently began a partial workup but has yet to complete Operational Sea Training and will have to return to Cammell Laird in January for her 5-yearly dry docking and inspections that are mandated under DNV class rules. It is unclear when exactly she will be able to begin the important MROS mission she was purchased for.

Progress bringing the new mine warfare support ship, RFA Stirling Castle, into service has also stalled. She began a workup in the summer and conducted a few days of basic trials with autonomous MCM boats in Portland but has been alongside since. The formal naming ceremony planned for August has been postponed to the spring of 2024 and she is believed to have some defects that may also require attention from Cammell Laird.

Fleet review

RFA Tidespring completed refit in the Summer of 2022 but was stuck alongside in Devonport and then in Portland until July this year due to a defect in her cargo systems. This was eventually rectified and she made a short visit to Gibraltar in August. For the rest of the year, she has operated mostly around the UK including as the duty FOST tanker.
RFA Tiderace arrived on Merseyside in February for planned maintenance but has been in the shipyard ever since unable to rejoin the fleet due to lack of personnel.
RFA Tidesurge had a busy year and supported exercise Joint Warrior held in the Norwegian Sea during March of this year. She also replenished NATO warships during exercise Formidable Shield in May and operated inside the the Arctic Circle. She visited Gibraltar briefly in July and entered Cammell Laird for a short maintenance period between September to November.
RFA Tideforce was also very active in 2023, beginning the year on the South coast before heading to Scotland. In April she participated in the large-scale NATO ASW exercise Dynamic Mongoose being held between Norway and Iceland and in June briefly supported the USS Gerald R Ford carrier strike group. She returned to the South coast before replenishing HMS Prince of Wales as she began her crossing of the Atlantic in early September. She subsequently supported HMS Queen Elizabeth and the Carrier Strike Group during the initial phase of the Autumn deployment.
RFA Cardigan Bay is permanently forward deployed and based in Bahrain as a mothership for mine warfare forces. The RN’s first Autonomous mine hunting vessel RNMB Harrier arrived in theatre this year and will be deployed from the ship. She participated in the 3-week International Maritime Exercise in March and exercise Artemis Trident trialling various autonomous minehunting technologies alongside traditional methods. In April she sailed at short notice to support an evacuation of UK nationals from Sudan after conflict erupted in the country but she was stood down, being no longer needed and returned to Bahrain. Following the flare-up of conflict in the Middle East, she has been at sea in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
RFA Mounts Bay Following a month of maintenance in Devonport, she visited Portsmouth in February and participated in exercise JointWarrior (JW23-1) held off Norway in particularly foul weather during March. She underwent a further maintenance period in Falmouth before visiting Gibraltar in July. She was deployed in the Baltic Sea briefly in September and returned to the UK before another trip the the Baltic, arriving in Helsinki for exercise Freezing Winds in November. She was also earmarked as one of 7 ships the RN was employing on underwater infrastructure patrols but it is unclear what her role would be and for how long she has this task.
RFA Lyme Bay completed an 8-month refit in Falmouth in February but spent a long time in Devonport before completing FOST certification. She remained off the South Coast preparing to deploy for LRG(S) and embarking stores and Royal Marines. She arrived in Gibraltar with RFA Argus in October and her future tasking for now is unclear, subject to events in Israel and Gaza.
RFA Argus was officially extended in service last year and will soldier on beyond 2030, designated as the Littoral Strike Ship. This vessel, built in 1981, is described as ‘maintenance intensive’ but doesn’t need new engines and her steelwork is sound. There have been minimal changes for her new role apart from the addition of a single Phalanx CIWS mount. After a short maintenance period in Falmouth, she conducted aviation training with Army Apache attack helicopters, visited Belfast, the Clyde, Portland and Devonport as she prepared for her long-term LRG(S) overseas deployment.
RFA Proteus is currently in Devonport. RFA Stirling Castle is alongside in Portland having, yet to sail beyond the South Coast since being delivered from her previous owners in Norway. At least in 2024 these two new vessels should start to get into their stride. RFA Fort Victoria is in Birkenhead with a skeleton care and maintenance crew.

Logistic support is still the core function of the RFA but its roles are actually diversifying, despite the tough times. It continues to be at the heart of many RN operations but there are limitations on what it can deliver. Never mind new ships, the ability to crew the existing fleet that would represent a major uplift in capability but that seems quite out of reach in the current circumstances. The RFA represents very good value for the taxpayer and consumes only a small part of the Naval Service RDEL budget. Only a relatively modest amount of extra funding would be needed in order to be able to offer more competitive salaries and improve the personnel situation.

Main image: Andy Amor. RFA Argus and RFA Proteus alongside at Portland, October 2023.

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Staff shortages will confine the Navy’s flagship multi-role vessel to port during this year’s cyclone season, limiting the military’s ability to respond to natural disasters.

That means the Navy will have to find other ways to transports vehicles and helicopters where they’re needed. It may have to ask Australia for support from its C-17 air transport.

A briefing from Defence Force chief Air Marshal Kevin Short, obtained under the Official Information Act, warns the military will be able to provide a range of responses over the 2023-24 cyclone season, but at reduced capacity.

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The original briefing was to former defence minister Andrew Little in September, and has since been updated by a new briefing to the incoming minister, Judith Collins.

Collins tells Newsroom the declining personnel levels in the Defence Force are “extremely concerning”.

“I’m appalled at the lack of transparency from the previous government over this,” she adds.

Recruitment has replaced some lost personnel, but she says it will take many years to generate suitably qualified and experienced staff.

The concerns echo comments this week from the Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral David Proctor. He told Australian Defence Magazine: “I would describe the Navy as hollow at the moment.

The frigate Te Mana and tanker Aotearoa have just returned from exercises with defence partner navies off Malaysia – it may be the last action some of these sailors see for a long time.

“We don’t have enough sailors, particularly in the specialist trades, to get all of our ships off the wharf and into the sea.” 

Attrition had soared as high as 17 percent after Covid restrictions lifted, before settling around 12 percent towards the end of this year.

Proctor said he needed to attract trained sailors who had already left, and persuade them to re-enlist, or the Canterbury and three patrol ships would remain laid up – some until 2027. “Whilst we are getting on top of attrition, it is really risky and we need to find options to get people to re-recruit,” he says. 

The briefing says the Navy will be “generally able” to support domestic emergency response requirements but its vessel best suited for the task, HMNZS Canterbury, will likely be unavailable due to workforce shortages.

The high risk weather season, when cyclones form in the South Pacific, runs from November to the end of April.

In February, Canterbury sailed from Lyttelton to Napier to deliver bailey bridges, vehicles, supplies and relief workers in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle.

The dive and hydrographic ship HMNZS Manawanui will instead take over Canterbury’s disaster relief role. As Manawanui is a smaller vessel which cannot sail with a helicopter, the ability of the Airforce to deploy helicopters would be hampered, the briefing said.

Potential alternative options for bringing helicopters to disaster zones include commercial sealift, Australian C-17 transport aircraft or having them fly themselves, although each option came with major limitations.

Likewise, without Canterbury’s sealift capacity, the Army’s ability to deploy would be limited, as it would need to transport people and cargo ashore via small boats if a wharf was not available for Manawanui.

While the Army would be able to support both domestic and regional disaster relief efforts, in both cases there would likely be “significant limitations” on the scale of a response, and almost no ability to support more than the most basic concurrent deployments, the briefing said.

The serviceability of the Navy’s Seasprite helicopters also remains a major concern.

While the Airforce will be able to meet its expected disaster relief and search and rescue duties, its fixed-wing outputs will come under pressure when its C-130H Hercules fleet is reduced to three aircraft, as happened this month.

Sustaining the C-130H fleet while transitioning to the newer C-130J Hercules, due for first delivery next year, is an “emerging challenge”, the briefing says.

There will also be reduced Boeing 757 availability at times due to maintenance.

Airforce helicopters would be available to support disaster relief, but low crew numbers put sustained deployments at risk, the briefing says.

A similar warning was provided to the minister last year, prior to Cyclone Gabrielle. In the event, almost 1000 Defence personnel were deployed, albeit with some platforms substituted and expectations of civil authorities managed.

Significant numbers of Defence Force staff have left since the Covid-19 pandemic for reasons including poor living conditions, relatively low salaries and frustration with deployments at managed isolation facilities during Operation Protect.

The previous Government boosted wages with a $400 million top-up in this year’s Budget, but it hasn’t been enough to stop the exodus.

A Defence Force spokesperson says the military has experienced record levels of attrition and had lost more than 36 percent of its full time uniformed personnel since April 2021. “The state of the NZ Defence Force continues to be of concern.”

A number of initiatives are in place to address ongoing staff shortages and there is some indication the attrition rate was improving.

For this year’s cyclone season, Defence could respond with the new P-8A Poseidon aircraft, which fulfils an aerial surveillance role.

However, all the Poseidon aircraft would not be able to operate at the same time until crews were fully trained.

Army engineers would be available at short notice, albeit in a reduced capacity due to high attrition and support required for ongoing operations, including Operation Antarctica.

“It should be noted that the entire Army, if required, can shift effort and respond as required,” the spokesperson says.

The Defence Force remains in frequent contact with Australian counterparts who are aware of its capabilities. “We regularly discuss coordination planning and how we would work together on response options to various events.”

The spokesperson had no comment to make on the possibility of commercial vessels being used to aid disaster relief, as other response options were available.

In addition to Canterbury, three Navy patrol vessels have been unusable due to staff shortages: HMNZS Wellington for a year; HMNZS Otago and HMNZS Hawea for longer, the spokesperson said.

Judith Collins says: “I want to thank the wonderful men and women of our New Zealand Defence Force for their service, and assure them they have a Government who cares about them.”

OSCAR FRANCIS

Oscar Francis is a freelance journalist focused on emergency services and defence. More by Oscar Francis

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15 DECEMBER, 2023

Cyclone Gabrielle

In February 2023, a violent tropical cyclone devastated the North Island of New Zealand. Cyclone Gabrielle is the costliest tropical cyclone to ever hit the Southern Hemisphere, with total damages estimated to be more than NZ$13.5 billion. We were there, ready at all times to do our part.

130

3SQN RESPONDED TO MORE THAN
130 SEARCH AND RESCUES 

The Defence Force’s involvement covered the full spectrum of Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief, including immediate life-saving rescues of people trapped on rooftops by floodwater. In the aftermath, rural communities in Northland, East Coast and Hawke’s Bay found themselves cut off after the destruction of roads, bridges and services, while major centres struggled to cope with infrastructure damage and wrecked homes.

Under the guidance of the National Emergency Management Agency, the Defence Force dispatched three Navy ships to the East Coast and Hawke’s Bay, delivering supplies to communities and cities.

The NZ Army made physical in roads to rural settlements, proving routes and delivering fuel, aid and food supplies. The Air Force transported medical equipment and infrastructure to major centres, and made constant runs from Hawke’s Bay distribution centres to isolated areas.

45

NZ ARMY PERSONNEL CARRIED OUT APPROX
45 EVACUATIONS ACROSS THE EAST COAST 

At its height, the NZDF had nearly 1,000 personnel involved, including liaison officers in emergency coordination centres and the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), through to evacuations, checking and establishing routes to cut-off communities, delivering critical supplies including water, fuel, food and medical supplies, welfare checks on people, clearing flood damage, and helping individuals with tasks on their properties including restoring drinking water supplies.

Talisman Sabre hones readiness for combat

In July and August New Zealand personnel proved their worth in working alongside a dozen other militaries during Exercise Talisman Sabre, a large-scale combat exercise in Queensland, Australia. Around 300 New Zealand Defence Force personnel took part in the largest-ever iteration of Talisman Sabre, involving around 30,000 military personnel from 13 countries.

A 150-strong NZ Army combat team, mounted in NZ Light Armoured Vehicles, formed a battlegroup with soldiers from Fiji, Australia, France, and the United States. The combat team used its speed and firepower to clear and destroy enemy defensive positions and seize objectives, to allow the wider battlegroup the freedom to take further action.

Three Royal New Zealand Air Force NH90 helicopters and 50 personnel, including aircrew, aircraft maintenance, safety, communication and information systems, intelligence, medical and logistics, formed part of an Anzac unit contributing to an aviation battle group which supported air mobile operations and troop movements.

A 10-strong Royal New Zealand Navy autonomous underwater vehicle team embarked on expeditionary ship USS Miguel Keith, joining a Royal Australian Navy combined mine counter measures task force. They practised sonar searching of areas to detect mines and provided in-depth underwater examination prior to dive teams being deployed to disarm or destroy the ordnance

Five Power Partners

In October the New Zealand Defence Force took part in Exercise Bersama Lima, an annual exercise based in Malaysia and Singapore that has run since 1971. More than 400 NZDF personnel, including crew from frigate

HMNZS Te Mana and maritime sustainment vessel HMNZS Aotearoa, were involved alongside Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and the United Kingdom as part of the Five Powers Defence Arrangement (FPDA).

Over the 19 days, Royal New Zealand Navy sailors carried out maritime operations, conducted boarding training and replenishment at sea operations, while New Zealand Army soldiers trained in jungle warfare.

Twenty-eight NZDF staff were based at the headquarters, Joint Warfighting Centre in Kuantan.

The exercise was part of the Operation Crucible South East Asia deployment for Te Mana and Aotearoa, which included port visits to Australia, Singapore, Philippines and Ho Chi Minh City in Viet Nam.

Dropping off in remote locations

In May No. 40 Squadron, flying the C130-H (NZ) Hercules, successfully completed a nearly two-week exercise of tactical flying around the top of the South Island, practising dropping loads of equipment and supplies in remote locations.

The annual training activity is designed to maintain currency in low-level flying, tactical flying and airdrop capability; skills which are crucial when responding to a range of challenging situations when called on by the New Zealand Government.

The Hercules flew as far south as Canterbury and as far north as Manawat, the crew coordinating pallet drops of heavy equipment and container delivery bundles to drop zones at Base Ohakea and around Marlborough.

The exercise provided crews with a range of challenging flying and navigating conditions, including over unfamiliar, mountainous and challenging terrain in a variety of weather conditions.

It helps prepare No. 40 Squadron for deployments to the likes of Antarctica, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific.

High speed tactical boats

The Royal New Zealand Navy’s punchy new long-range high-speed Littoral Manoeuvre Craft tick the boxes between coastal littoral operations and small, fast team tactical insertions over the horizon.

Powered by twin Cummins 550hp diesel engines coupled with Hamilton jets, the three boats are fast, capable of 40-plus knots. The hulls are plastic, constructed of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), making them highly durable and low-maintenance. They don’t need painting and there’s no risk of corrosion or degradation from electrolysis.

They can be transported on HMNZS Manawanui, taking the boat and team to an Area of Operations where they can be inserted. The LMC can transport (piggy-back) a 5.3-metre zodiac on its back, meaning the LMC can do a fast, long range transit and drop off a team of divers or hydrographers to cover the last leg. It has capacity for 10 passengers; one of its mission profiles is the ability to carry troops.

P-8A Poseidons go operational

The first aircraft arrived at Ohakea on 12 December 2022. A custom-built facility, including two hangars, maintenance and support facilities, warehousing for spare parts, and a mission support centre, is under construction at Ohakea. The new fleet replaces the P-3K2 Orion patrol aircraft which have been in service since the 1960s.

On 17 July the fourth and final P-8A Poseidon arrived in New Zealand, just as the No. 5 Squadron fleet become operational on 1 July. It meant the fleet was mission-ready seven months after the first aircraft touched down at RNZAF Base Ohakea.

In October a Poseidon carried out the squadron’s first rescue mission with the aircraft, locating three Fijian fishers nine days after they were reported missing aboard their 8.5-metre wooden fishing boat.

Arrival of the Bushmasters

The Defence Force took delivery of the first 18 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles for the New Zealand Army in May. The 43 Bushmasters in total are Australian-designed and built vehicles and will replace the New Zealand Army’s ageing armoured Pinzgauers.

In December 2017, the Government has invested more than $4.5 billion in 12 major defence capability projects.

This includes $102.9 million towards the Bushmaster fleet.

They carry more troops than the armoured Pinzgauer and offer greater blast and ballistic protection to personnel. The fleet is made up of five variants: 25 troop carriers; 10 command and control; four ambulances; two for logistics, and two for maintenance support.

Mountains put aircrew through their paces

The mountainous terrain of Marlborough provides the perfect landscape for Royal New Zealand Navy Seasprite helicopter training.

In August more than 90 people took part in Exercise Bluebird 23, which includes Royal New Zealand Navy flight crew from No. 6 Squadron along with Royal New Zealand Air Force operations, communications and security personnel.

The SH-2G(l) Seasprite is a maritime warfare-capable helicopter, but it is essential that crews train in mountainous terrain in order to familiarise personnel in high altitude and cold weather flying operations.

This year NZDF also supported the Department of Conservation (DOC) and the New Zealand Land Search and Rescue team (LandSAR) with identifying avalanche risks, reconnaissance and training in airborne search procedures.

It involved mountain-familiarisation flights for up to 15 staff and volunteers, including insertion and extraction into remote locations, winching and airborne search procedures to train for mountain search and rescue scenarios.

Spending summer on ice

As daylight returns to the southern continent, Operation Antarctica gears up for the New Zealand Defence Force.

The Defence Force is an integral part of Antarctica New Zealand’s operations and has been providing support to Antarctica programmes every year since the 1950s. The first flights to the ice got underway from September.

Under its annual commitment, the Defence Force contributes airlift and logistics support to Antarctica NZ for New Zealand’s Antarctic programme, and other nations’ programmes that use Christchurch as their Antarctic gateway.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force has scheduled 16 flights to Antarctica between September and March, a logistics duty it shares with the United States. Defence Force personnel work at both Antarctica New Zealand’s Scott Base and the United States’ McMurdo Station.

At the height of the summer season, approximately 70 Defence personnel will be on the ice, including the Scott Base Support Team of two logistics personnel, two plant operators, four communications personnel and a chef.

Aviation refuellers, firefighters, drivers, carpenters and electricians are also deployed. Over the summer, up to 200 NZDF personnel will take their turn in supporting operations in Antarctica.

Navy skills shared with Samoa

The Royal New Zealand Navy has been sharing its expertise this year with Samoa’s Maritime Police in the build-up to Samoa receiving its new patrol vessel, Nafanua III. On shore, a bespoke Maritime Training Team, from the Navy’s Maritime Training Group, provided general maritime training to 32 Samoan Maritime Police officers.

The week-long course included medical training, search and rescue, planning and boarding and ladder drills.

HMNS Taupo was already in the vicinity, undertaking a 967-nautical mile maritime security and fisheries patrol of Samoa’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to deter illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The voyage was the furthest north in latitude and the furthest travelled for an Inshore Patrol Vessel since the commissioning of the Lake-class vessels in 2009.

Partway through the patrols, Taupo called in to Samoa to take aboard Samoan personnel, keen to put their training into use. Taupo crewmembers, making room for the police, joined a Navy logistics team on shore in community projects and sports events.

Operation Calypso is one of several maritime resource protection operations that the New Zealand Defence Force carries out each year via the air and sea, supporting the Forum Fisheries Agency, Pacific Quadrilateral Defence Coordination Group, the Ministry for Primary Industries and at the direct request of Pacific nation Governments.

Plan ANZAC

In April the New Zealand Army reinvigorated its longstanding cooperation with the Australian Army with the signing of Plan ANZAC.

The Bilateral Service Cooperation Plan creates a formalised framework for many well-established work streams between the two armies, including sustained cooperation across strategic engagement, capability, training, readiness and common personnel issues.

The plan balances the enduring characteristics of the Anzac relationship, such as close integration in capability, training and readiness; and retention of sovereign capability and capacity to act in support of independent Joint Force operations.

Hailed as a significant step forward for the trans-Tasman strategic partnership, the plan has a focus on improved interoperability.

Another key outcome of the plan is that both nations will cooperate to support common objectives for broader interoperability and standards as members of the American, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Armies’ Programme.

Amphibious capability proven in Fiji

During March and April HMNZS Canterbury and NZ Army’s 5th Movements Company supported Exercise Mahi Tahi, which involved working alongside Fijian military to train personnel in amphibious operations and humanitarian and disaster relief work.

The ship transported nearly three hundred NZDF personnel, two NH90s helicopters, eight trucks and one fuel tanker to Fiji. Canterbury acted as a Pacific Island lilypad’ for flying operations, while its landing craft conducted beach landing operations at Lomolomo Beach on the coast of Viti Levu.

We haven’t practised this type of amphibious landing for a while and this is the first time we’ve used both the BPEV and CAT938K overseas so it’s really great to see it deployed here at Lomolomo Beach.

It included the first-time drive onto a Pacific Island for the Army’s Beach Preparation Extraction Vehicle (BPEV) which can be used to help prepare the beach by clearing any debris such as logs or boulders, smoothing it out for other vehicles to land ashore.

Accompanying it was the Army’s modified 20-tonne CAT938K loader with a FAUN trackway dispenser attached to the front. It can roll out a modular aluminium trackway, 40 metres long, from the landing craft, to support trucks driving on a beach.

The teams extracted 107 3rd Battalion Fiji Regiment soldiers from Kadavu Island using the ship’s landing craft, transporting them to Suva. It demonstrated what the Defence Force can do if they have to extract large numbers of people.

Record delivery traps for conservation

In September the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s No.3 Squadron delivered more than four tonnes of pest traps into the lower North Island’s Ruahine Range, the largest one-day back country delivery of traps in New Zealand conservation history.

The work supported the Department of Conservation – Te Papa Atawhai (DOC) and its pest control operations following the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle. up in large amounts with a large helicopter certainly streamlined the operation. That trap network will now cover about 40,000 hectares of the Ruahines.

The NH90 helicopter and crew delivered 560 traps, weighing 4,400 kilograms. These traps, which target stoats, weasels and rats, will make a significant contribution to the protection of kiwi, whio (blue duck), robins, snails and rare plants.

Conservation and science on offshore islands

Over January and February, HMNZS Canterbury tackled back-to-back conservation and resupply missions at two ends of New Zealand’s territory: the sub-tropical Kermadec Islands and sub-Antarctic Islands.

Operation Havre focused on resupply, conservation and maintainance tasks on Rangitahua/Raoul Island over 12 days with the Department of Conservation (DOC), Meteorological Service NZ (MetService), Geological Nuclear Sciences (GNS) and mana whenua from Northland iwi, Ngati Kuri.

Operation Endurance, on Campbell Island, included the Defence Technology Agency testing experimental weather stations, NZ Army researching future helicopter landing sites and staff and students from the Sir Peter Blake Trust, alongside Otago University staff, analysing peat and sediment layers.

Endurance’s programme had to be drastically condensed, with Canterbury recalled to Lyttelton to respond to Cyclone Gabrielle taskings.

Specialist boarding teams 

Bespoke, short-notice Deployable Boarding Teams (DBT) are being developed as a specialist capability out of littoral warfare unit HMNZS Matataua.

Personnel across the Royal New Zealand Navy can undertake a five-week boarding team course, learning critical incident management, tactical communications, firearm training, advanced first aid, room clearing, search techniques and ladder skills.

Typically these persons arrive from different ships and units and disperse back to them, which means that RNZN boarding parties become platform-centric, associated with a particular ship for a particular period.

In order to prepare that ship for patrols that involve boarding other vessels, the entire ship has to be ‘worked-up’ for an operation – a costly endeavour in personnel, training and overheads.

Under this new concept, Matataua will provide a scalable, fully-equipped and qualified boarding capability, available at short notice for “fly-in, fly out” deployments to support a RNZN ship on operation, or the vessels of partner nations.

King’s Coronation

In front of the eyes of the world, a 20-strong New Zealand Defence Force contingent marched through central London as part of the historic Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III on May 6.

The New Zealand contingent marched alongside members of the UK Armed Forces and personnel from across the Commonwealth in the return processions from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace. More than 7,000 personnel from 40 nations were involved in the spectacle.

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• SEA

British warship ‘chases off’ Russian sub from Irish harbour

By

 George Allison

 –

 December 12, 2023

141

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Irish media has reported that a Russian submarine, positioned directly outside the entrance to Cork Harbour, was “chased off” by a British helicopter and warship because Ireland doesn’t have the ability to do so itself.

Writing in the Irish Examiner, Sean O’Riordan reported that the submarine was “just outside the 12-mile limit, so it didn’t break any international laws, but military sources have indicated that such events around the Irish coast are becoming more common”.

Details of the Russian underwater operation and subsequent British intervention, which took place six months ago, have just emerged.

Sources are cited in the article as saying that as darkness approached, a British helicopter deployed sonar equipment into the water near an unidentified submarine. This action was followed by the arrival of a Royal Navy anti-submarine frigate to monitor the submarine, compensating for the Irish naval ships’ lack of underwater surveillance technology.

“Almost all of the Irish navy’s ships had sonar between the 1960s and 1980s and the former flagship vessel, LÉ Eithne, had it until the 1990s when it became defunct and deemed too expensive at the time by the Department of Defence to replace.”

The report also notes that Russian military activities have tested British air defences near Irish shores.

Russia’s use of older Soviet-era Tu-95 ‘Bear Bombers’ has been largely unmonitored by Ireland due to the Air Corps’ lack of high-speed jets or aircraft with sufficient altitude capability. Ireland’s last fighter jets, the Vampire jets, were in service until the 1950s.

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