New Zealand to Send Warship and Airforce to Gulf of Oman

Tehran Times ^ | November 11 2002

[mgstarr]

There are two Anzac class frigates and one old Leander Class, the Canterbury

[jdege]

The New Zealand military faces the same problems as does the Canadian - a small country with a leftist government that consistently refuses to provide the resources necessary.

That their service men and women don't get the support they deserve isn't their fault, blame it on the politicians.

[shaggy eel]

,,, this morning's Dominion Post says that Te Mana will relieve Te Kaha's role in February.

[F-117A]

Wait a minute... that ship looks like it actually has a gun on it!

[shaggy eel]

Hey, it's a start, and it's better than some of our other "allies".

,,, no, it isn't a start. Our SAS has been in Afghanistan for many months. We've sent C-130s over as well with medical teams etc.

[wistful]

Somewhat like the US, NZ is a democratic country. The politicians are elected by the people.

[shaggy eel]

Wait a minute... that ship looks like it actually has a gun on it!

,,, relax, it ain't going for the shooting match.

[shaggy eel]

Somewhat like the US, NZ is a democratic country. The politicians are elected by the people.

,,, only New Zealand and it's politicians (3,9 million people in total) have never really had the will or the money to become a super power. Accordingly, we're not fitted out as one.

[mgstarr]

It has a few goodies on board:

The Anzac is armed with one eight-cell Mk 41 vertical launching system for NATO Seasparrow surface-to-air missiles. Seasparrow is a semi-active radar missile with a range of 14.5km. Capacity to launch eight Boeing Harpoon anti-ship missiles is to be added.

The main gun is a United Defense 127mm Mk 45 Mod 2 gun, which can fire at a rate of 20 rounds/min to a range of over 20km.

Two triple 324mm Mk 32 torpedo tubes for Mk 46 anti-submarine torpedoes are fitted. Mk 46 is an active/passive torpedo with a range of 11km.

[varon]

The New Zealand Air Force??? I think that one P-3 is the extent of it.

Perhaps and then perhaps not. I do wander though as to what military assets our great ally and friend, Mexico, has sent?

Makes a person wander if Mexico can spare millions of their men to populate the U.S., why can't they volunteer a single soldier to combat global terrorism?

[jdege]

Nobody expects you to act like a superpower, but it'd be nice if you were able to do your share of simple little things like piracy suppression.

Military expenditures	(%GDP):
USA	3.2%
UK	2.3%
Australia	2.0%
New Zealand	1.2%

[Rokke]

One difference between New Zealand and Mexico, is that New Zealand has made a conscious decision to reduce its Air Force to nothing. The Mexicans just let theirs decay into nothing, and I'm not even sure they are aware it no longer really exists.
I do know one thing...I'd take 10 Kiwi soldiers over 1000 Mexican soldiers.

[shaggy eel]

,,, you're comparing the GDP of the US against that of New Zealand? Get real. Greater Detroit has 600,000 more people than New Zealand's total population. Defence has to be big budget for what the US does around the world. There's simply no comparison.

[Ben Bolt]

Good heavens jdge we have cities greater in population than the entire country of New Zealand . Have you ever been there ? It is an island nation with perhaps more sheep than people !

[blackie]

Thanks Shaggy !!

Death To all Muslim Extremist's !!

GWB Is The Man !!

Freedom Is Worth Fighting For !!

Let's Roll !!

Molon Labe !!

[Consort]

......

[shaggy eel]

BUMP

[shaggy eel]

BUMP

[jdege]

I'm not comparing GDP, I'm comparing percentage of GDP.

Nobody could expect New Zealand to maintain a fleet of CVNs.

But New Zealand isn't even maintaining a meaningful fleet of coastal patrol boats.

The NZ Navy includes:

3 Patrol Frigates (3600 tons)
4 Patrol Boats (110 tons)

Compare that, for example, with Denmark:

4 Patrol Frigates (3500 tons)
3 Large Corvettes (1300 tons)
1 Submarine (1200 tons)
3 Coastal Submarines (520 tons)
17 Patrol Boats (320 tons)
9 Fisheries Patrol Boats (150 tons)

Yes, Denmark has half again the population, and twice the GDP as New Zealand. But it has a much smaller coastline, and is far less isolated.

I'm not faulting New Zealand for not building carriers, or even for not building more frigates. But it has far too few patrol boats to do the job it needs done.

For what it's worth, the USCG has:

13 Large Patrol Cutters (3000 tons)
1 Arctic Patrol Cutter (1900 tons)
14 Patrol Cutters (1800 tons)
14 Patrol Cutters (1000 tons)
13 Patrol Boats (330 tons)
49 Patrol Boats (150 tons)
44 Patrol Boats (90 tons)

That's 148 coastal patrol vessels for 20,000 km of coastline, not including the US Navy, which isn't generally used for the mission. 135 km/boat.

New Zealand has 7 boats available for coastal patrol, for 15,000 km of coastline. 2100 km/boat.

Simply inadequate.

[shaggy eel]

,,, yeah, it's inadequate. For the amount of tax I pay so is the health system. Education's in trouble too. We have a socialist government in power - need I say more? Welfare's performing really well though. Free lunches cost $NZ13b per annum.

This morning's 5,00 news on the radio outlined a looming crisis where culturally inappropriate sand was to be placed on a beach from another beach. Sand had been washed from a shore by tides and a Regional Council's efforts to fix the problem have been stomped on by political correctness and a Maori power play. Defence issues? Never heard of them.