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P-8A Poseidon crews from Royal New Zealand Air Force No. 5 Squadron have been hunting submarines off the western coast of Australia in a recent major marine warfare exercise.

12 May, 2025

“We were participating in the Royal Australian Navy’s Anti-Submarine Warfare exercise, acting as the fixed wing asset tasked with finding the enemy submarine,” Air Warfare Specialist Corporal Ryan Vincent said.

Also involved in the exercise were Royal Australian Navy vessels HMAS Hobart, HMAS Choules and four Anzac class frigates – Warramunga, Stuart, Toowoomba and Arunta – who at various times acted as either friendly or enemy forces for the submarine, HMAS Farncomb.

“With their embarked helicopters it creates quite a complicated warfare environment we don’t really get too often. The amount of communication and coordination that is occurring in order to find the target safely and effectively is impossible to simulate.”

CPL Vincent is one of two acoustics operators on the P-8A, who interpret data from sonobuoys dropped from the aircraft into the ocean that the crew uses to track the submarine. 

A RNZAF P-8A Poseidon has been hunting submarines off the western coast of Australia in a recent major marine warfare exercise.

“We can also hear it as a ping, which does sound quite cool. We’ve got a couple of different sonobuoys, one of which sends out a signal and we hear a return ping when it’s acquired the target. It sounds like how you hear it in the movies.”

It was useful having our Australian allies close by to be able to have the opportunity to train with them and their capabilities, CPL Vincent said.

“There is a lot of flying in a live warfare scenario that you don’t really get in the simulator, which is tightly controlled. In the real world, everything is a little bit more unpredictable, some things might fail, some things might be lost – you might be right on top of the contact, but not be able to hear it.

“It’s real life so you’re constantly manoeuvring, you’re hearing the sonobuoys go out and it does create a very dynamic atmosphere.”

Internal communications were at a high tempo during the training, with information continually being passed to the Tactical Coordinator, CPL Vincent said.

“The exercise flying does get quite intense, but we are good at following our standard operating procedures. It’s quite high energy because contact with the target can be quite fleeting, so we need to make sure we’re prepared and start tracking it when we need to.

“These targets are really good at evading us, but it’s good for our training,” he said.

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A chance conversation in Antarctica between a couple of firefighters more than a year ago has led to the United States Air Force Air National Guard arriving in New Zealand for a two-week firefighting exercise.

07 May, 2025

The exercise, Southern Steel, took place at Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Base Auckland and the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Regional Training Centre at Mt Wellington recently. It involved more than 30 US Air Force Air National Guard Fire and Emergency Services Detachment personnel working on a number of firefighting training activities.

“RNZAF Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighter (ARFF) Fire Flights were invited to send representatives to observe and integrate with our US Air Force counterparts,” Flight Sergeant Hayden Bayliss said.

“It all started with a conversation between one of our deployed firefighters on Op Antarctica and a then US Air Force Air National Guard Staff Sergeant. Further talks between the two countries’ representatives at the Five Eyes Air Force Interoperability Council meetings, and other meetings, opened exercise planning over the next 12 months.”

Watch Exercise Southern Steel | Royal New Zealand Air Force video

Exercise Southern Steel | Royal New Zealand Air Force

Having the US Air Force Air National Guard deploy to New Zealand and train at Base Auckland was the “missing piece of the puzzle” as it was one of the Five Eyes countries the RNZAF ARFF trade had minimal prior engagement with, Flight Sergeant Bayliss said.

The aim for the team of firefighters from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Hawaii, was to practice the deployment of a US Air Force Air National Guard to the Pacific region. Included in the exercise was competency training in a deployed environment, conducting combined firefighting training with Five Eyes partners and fostering and building key partner emergency services relationships.

The training also involved mission readiness airmen training, aircraft familiarisation, ARFF training, vehicle stabilisation and rescue, HAZMAT, low and high angle rescue, and structural firefighting.

RNZAF Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighter (ARFF) Fire Flights were invited to send representatives to observe and integrate with US Air Force counterparts.

“The RNZAF’s people, systems and culture are widely valued by our allies and partner nations. Enhancing Air Force interoperability and interchangeability with the US Air Force Air National Guard by leveraging collective expertise is important to resolving many challenges and, as such, must be enduring,” Flight Sergeant Bayliss said. 

Making up the US Air Force Air National Guard contingent were two Security Forces personnel, who with support from Air Staff ARFF representatives and units at Base Auckland, were able to join their RNZAF counterparts in a live-firing exercise at Kaipara Air Weapons Range.

“It went beyond just firefighting. The scope of the training grew organically and we achieved some really good collaboration,” he said.

“We would like to express sincere gratitude to all contributing units and personnel in what was a successful joint international engagement between Five Eyes partners.”

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