Report on New Zealand Military: Can’t Sail, Can’t Fly, Can’t Fight
September 3rd, 2008Via: New Zealand Herald:
The Navy is finding it difficult to sail, the Air Force to fly and the Army would struggle to take part in combat, according to the Defence Force annual report.
It paints a picture of all three branches of the defence forces hamstrung by a lack of staff and poor equipment.
In the report, the Army said while land forces were “partially” prepared for low level conflicts, it was not equipped to meet higher threat situations, even though it had managed to send a company to Afghanistan.
The report said: “Deficiencies in command and control, firepower, and compatible protection and mobility for combat service support elements would impair effectiveness in conventional military operations, and the more challenging peace support operations.”
The Air Force had “insufficient personnel” to meet crew levels and was only “partially prepared” for complex maritime air operations. In the Navy, few of the ships managed to get out to sea as much as planned.
The HMNZ Endeavour spent 50 days at sea out of an expected 100-120 days, HMNZS Te Kaha 99 days out of 140-160, and the HMNZS Canterbury only 95 days out of 140-160.
This was because of a lack of personnel and “equipment and capability issues”.
Hope the Kiwi tax base isn’t paying a lot for it…