Royal New Zealand Air Force

[Todjaeger]

Starting point is really what does the fleet look like.
Composition and numbers.
How many are aviation capable vessels ?

Going forward it’s basically a clean slate to build a fleet but for the refuelling ship Aotearoa.
So how many helicopters?


Answer. How many ships

There is a bit more to it though. The number of vessels, especially if the fleet size is increased over all like many of us believe is necessary, can have an impact, but it is not automatically so. If one looks at the current RNZN fleet composition there are six ocean-going vessels able to embark helicopters in commission, however only two of them would really be able to make full use of the capabilities a naval helicopter could provide. The CMS and comms fitout for four of the vessels are effectively not able to receive or display the sensor data a naval helicopter could collect. Making this even worse is that at least three of the vessels lack a hangar magazine, which in turn means that any embarked naval helicopter would be effectively unarmed as well. Not sure about whether Aotearoa was designed/built with a hangar magazine or not.

So then any questions considering the future size of the RNZN fleet also would need to consider what capabilities would be designed into future fleet vessels. For instance, if (big IF) a SOPV does get added back into the list of vessels for the RNZN of the future, how flexible and/or how capable will the design be? If the intention is to obtain a patrolling vessel suitable for the ice and sea conditions near Antarctica in the Southern Ocean, then a minimal armament and more importantly, less expensive and capable sensor, comms, and CMS fitout, one lacking the ability to make much use of datalinks, would be fitted. In a similar fashion, if new OPV's are purchased to replace the Project Protector OPV's and are of similar shipboard electronics capabilities then much of the potential benefit from an embarked helicopter would be lost.

To further complicate the question, there might also be some value in NZ having a few operational land-based naval helicopters that could provide an airborne surveillance and response capability close to NZ proper.

Hence my comment on the NZDF needing to determine how many helicopters would be needed operationally and then working from there to determine the order size.