New Zealand Army

[ngatimozart]

Hi All, this is my first post. Been reading for awhile. Some interesting discussions.
I was in Wellington yesterday and saw two armoured vechicles being driven north on a truck. They look like british warthogs from Singapore. Any ideas?
I am wondering if Singapore or the British are down for an exercise or could NZ be trialling these as part of a recon or amphibious vehicle?

From elsewhere. They came off the HARTWIG SCAN, berthed at Wellington. The ship unloaded on Thursday and included Haglunds and Landrovers all painted dark forest green as well as Unimog type trucks. It is thought the ship is ex Singapore. Last night the ship was transiting Cook Strait on its way to Townsville. General opinion is that the Singapore Army is here for its summer holidays.

 

[RegR]

Hi All, this is my first post. Been reading for awhile. Some interesting discussions.
I was in Wellington yesterday and saw two armoured vechicles being driven north on a truck. They look like british warthogs from Singapore. Any ideas?
I am wondering if Singapore or the British are down for an exercise or could NZ be trialling these as part of a recon or amphibious vehicle?

Saw a few as well and yes they are the singaporean gunners that are now regular visitors to Waiouru. They come for our wide open spaces to let loose with their gun systems.

 

[Norm]

6 Territorial Force (TF) Battalions to merge.

Been a bit of publicity during December about this.
Army jumps gun on restructuring - National - NZ Herald News

Army News 434 Dec 2012 sets out the details .The 6TF Battlions will merge with the closest TF battalion to form 3 new Army Reserve Battalions which will continue to use the existing HQs and Coy HQs.The new Reserve Battalions will be aligned and train with the Regular Force Bns which is a good step forward.Each BN will have 3 companies,2 active and 1 semi active (stand by personel).11/4 Battery and Waikato Mounted rifles are already components RF formations,see NZ Army order if Battle Army news 434 August 2012.
Three new Army reserve Battalions are:
2/4 RNZIR Amalgamates 2nd Canterbury,Nelson,Marlborough,West Coast BN.with 4th Otago and Southland BN.Aligned with 2/1 RNZIF BN.
3/6 RNZIR Amalgamates 3rd Auckland and Northland BN with the 6th Hauraki BN.Aligned with the QAMR.
5/7RNZIR Amalgamates 5th Wellington,West Coast and Taranaki BN with 7th Wellington and Hawkes Bay BN.Aligned with 1 RNZIR BN.

 

[kiwi in exile]

A little bit of good news
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MauvVJz4nts"]NZ Army's new Light Support Weapon - YouTube[/nomedia]

shooting from the shoulder even!

 

[ssgt]

SH-2G purchse rumor

Does anyone have insider info about the planned purchase of 11 SH-2G helicopters
from Australia?

 

[ngatimozart]

Does anyone have insider info about the planned purchase of 11 SH-2G helicopters
from Australia?

Go have a nose on the RNZN thread. http://www.defencetalk.com/forums/n...navy-discussions-updates-4854-188/#post258887 There should be some info there.

 

[MrConservative]

Does anyone have insider info about the planned purchase of 11 SH-2G helicopters
from Australia?

There will not be any insider information coming out because it is at the deal making – deal breaking stage. It will now either happen or not. The handful of key people who are in the room on this will never ever say. I can pretty much guarantee that nobody on DT or any other forum actually knows what actually is the current status. That is as it should be.

BTW - SH2G's are not a NZ Army topic so your post was in the wrong place. Also Kaman in the US are the vendor not Australia.

Cheers MrC

 

[pte]

Hello I am new to this site and this is probably the wrong post , but is there any one here that has changed from RF to TF and what was the process and how long does it take .

 

[Cadredave]

Hello I am new to this site and this is probably the wrong post , but is there any one here that has changed from RF to TF and what was the process and how long does it take .

Mate you need to submit your MD717 ensure you tick the box for service to TF, HR branch will guide you through the rest, minimum period is 3 months notice

 

[Norm]

Possible sale 20 LAVs

Arms deal on the table during PM's Colombia trip - Politics News | TVNZ

Looks like a deal could be close, is it more belt tightening !

Reason given is that the Army with its renewed focus on Amphibious Capabilities does not need to be heavily "LAV" motorised .Clip on TVNZ is a slightly shortened version of what I watched tonight.

 

[kiwi in exile]

Arms deal on the table during PM's Colombia trip - Politics News | TVNZ

Looks like a deal could be close, is it more belt tightening !

The article states "The Defence Force hopes to sell the LAVs by 2015. But says if a deal is not done the vehicles may be sold for scrap or used for parts."

While I think it may be a good idea to sell them if they are unused, selling them for scrap seems like a stupid idea. How much money would that raise? If we can't find a buyer that will be bad PR for NZDF- everyone will be under the impression that LAV's are crap.

 

[Norm]

LAVs

The article states "The Defence Force hopes to sell the LAVs by 2015. But says if a deal is not done the vehicles may be sold for scrap or used for parts."

While I think it may be a good idea to sell them if they are unused, selling them for scrap seems like a stupid idea. How much money would that raise? If we can't find a buyer that will be bad PR for NZDF- everyone will be under the impression that LAV's are crap.

I note the Colombia is buying 24 LAV111's new builds $C65.3m by my reconing$nz3.2m each ,may not include the cost of the 25mm cannon from what i've read.Canada has spent $NZ2.6m per LAV on a massive upgrade program for 571 of its LAVs includes a portion of whole of lfe support. So $3.2m-$2.6m leaves a buyer thinking $800K per unit if upgraded to Canadian spec ,nock off any Ks and they are worth more as parts!The price would be new build minus cost to upgrade minus sum for wear & tear with a premium for immediate availibility.

 

[RegR]

Still seems like a waste to me, probably more an effort to raise funds rather than any specific purpose. I still beleive if anything they should have the turrets removed and serve new roles in a support capacity such as ambulance, C2, driver training, mortars, spec trades etc. You can never have too many supporties under armour.

Even the turrets could be re-used, static mount at the range for basic training, maintanence trainers, mount on a armoured container for deployable base defence or even stick them on the navy IPVs.

The more armoured platforms you can save now mean less needed in the future, granted they may not be suitable for all applications but if we get next to nothing for them then may as well make the best of them.

 

[Volkodav]

Short sighted penny pinching by the stench of it. What ever happened to laying up useful gear in reserve for when the cash was available to upgrade and reintroduce it to service?

The crazy thing is many formerly light infantry heavy armies are now hardening up with LAVIII type vehicles while NZ, one of the early adopters is now back tracking even though the capability is proven and accepted.

 

[kiwi in exile]

LAV versions

General Dynamics, maker of our recently aquired cap crossing system/Rapidly Emplaced Bridge System (REBS) also has promotional material showing said system fitten to a LAV III/Piranha III.

http://www.deagel.com/library1/medium/2008/m02008062000086.jpg
REBS - Rapidly Emplaced Bridge System - Army Technology
http://www.gdels.com/brochures/bridge_rebs.pdf

I realise that if this is doubling up on a capability that we allready have, and if it were ever to be adopted it would be a long way off, but it would mean that we could free up the MAN HX77's for other stuff. I'm assuming these vehicles will be given other tasks beside transporting the REBS. They look good with a 20 foot ISO container on the back.
Does an HX77 fit on the canterburys landing craft?

Cheers

 

[recce.k1]

Enhanced Infantry Company

Some info recently released into the public domain about the Army's new Enhanced Infantry Company:

Officer in charge of the company Major Brad Taylor said the specialist group was formed last year as a contingency force that had enough training to provide backup for the Special Air Service (SAS) if needed.

The team was made up of regular soldiers who were given additional training, he said.

Training was regular so they were always ready to deploy at short notice, Major Taylor said.

Dropping in on a long rope | Stuff.co.nz

Apart from assisting with SAS deployments when required, I take it the EIC would be "ring-fenced off" from the routine "boots on the ground" type follow-up peacekeeping missions (to save their skillset and availability for more pressing needs)?

Might be an "academic' type question I suppose seeing deployments are now winding down and Army is refocusing on training for the JATF and working wider with US & Coalition forces in the AP area.

 

[ngatimozart]

Some info recently released into the public domain about the Army's new Enhanced Infantry Company:



Apart from assisting with SAS deployments when required, I take it the EIC would be "ring-fenced off" from the routine "boots on the ground" type follow-up peacekeeping missions (to save their skillset and availability for more pressing needs)?

Might be an "academic' type question I suppose seeing deployments are now winding down and Army is refocusing on training for the JATF and working wider with US & Coalition forces in the AP area.

I thought that was what the commandos were for or have they gone the bye and bye?

 

[old faithful]

Recce, is this enhanced company a stand alone unit, or are member drawn from the 2 reg battalions for training, then returned to their unit after? How does this company group work?

 

[RegR]

I think it is just one of the regular companies from within the battalion that receives above and beyond training, preps them to pave the way in a situation and bridge the gap between regular Infantry and SF.

 

[Cadredave]

I thought that was what the commandos were for or have they gone the bye and bye?

Hi Ngati,
Commandoes carry out the Black role only (NZ), the EIC can deploy with the group to provide back up like the paras do with 22 SAS here and overseas