DEFENCE
Building New Zealand’s Future Navy The need to replace half of the RNZN’s fleet by the mid 2030s presents a rare opportunity to move away from simply considering like for like replacements, writes Editor-at-large Peter Greener, and to consider newer and fewer classes.
Dr Peter Greener is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University Wellington, and an Honorary Professor – and previously Academic Dean – at the Command and Staff College of the New Zealand Defence Force.
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At a time when the economy continues to face the costs imposed by the Covid – 19 pandemic it may seem premature to be exploring opportunities for building the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) of the future, but now is the very time to be doing so. Over the next ten to fifteen years, the government will need to consider replacements for the Protector class Offshore Patrol Vessels, the Anzac frigates and the dive and hydrographic support ship HMNZS Manawanui. The Defence Capability Plan 2019 (DCP19) envisaged a decision being made by 2028 for the replacement of the Offshore Patrol Vessels, with the Anzac frigates being replaced in the 2030s “with modern surface combatants relevant to New Zealand’s prevailing strategic environment”. The dive and hydrographic capability was to see HMNZS Manawanui “replaced with a similar vessel in the mid-2030s”. DCP19 highlighted that there would need to be “investment in all the core capabilities that have provided the foundation for New Zealand’s Defence Force for the last two decades. These high-end capabilities offer significant value to New Zealand’s security and our defence relationships.” Whilst we await a new Defence Assessment and a revised DCP, it appears that the baseline settings outlined in the Strategic Defence Policy Statement 2018, the document that generated DCP19, still hold today. However, one theme identified in these documents appears even more pressing in the light of the impacts of COVID-19. Minister of Defence Peeni Henare recently noted that: “for many Pacific Islands that [economic recovery
after the pandemic] means protecting the fisheries. Assisting with fisheries patrols is an important way the Royal New Zealand Navy…can help.” Maintaining a significant patrol vessel capability has thus become even more salient. It was therefore reassuring to have Minister Henare tell the Foreign Affairs and Trade Select Committee in August this year that, “We are not cutting back on the DCP.” Secretary of Defence Andrew Bridgman added that a revised Defence Capability Plan would not mean scrapping planned projects but would rather necessitate moving them “out a bit”. Following the AUKUS announcement, former Defence Minister Dr Wayne Mapp was noted in The Dominion Post of 18 September as commenting that defence assessments in the past decade made clear the frigates were one of the three ‘critical’ pieces of military hardware that needed upgrading. ‘‘We all knew that the top one of those three would in fact be the frigates. We always knew the frigate question would be the tough question.’’ Over the past quarter century, one of the fundamental difficulties for a small Navy such as New Zealand’s has been the training and maintenance burden imposed by the requirements of each class of ships in service varying significantly. Currently with nine ships in service there are six different classes of vessel. This has been compounded by the bespoke nature of the vessels – the refitted Anzacs are now very different ships from their Australian counterparts. Some recent research has sought to identify how best to respond
Line of Defence
