Defence Business: NZDF Annual Report 2010 - sailors gold, soldiers bronze | ADM Nov 2010

The New Zealand Defence Force’s Annual Report makes for some interesting reading for those who take the time to read between the lines.

Nick Lee-Frampton | Wellington

Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General Jerry Mateparae, announcing the New Zealand Defence Force’s (NZDF’s) Annual Report 2010, described HMNZS Canterbury as ‘our “go-to” capability in a whole range of circumstances’ and mentions delivering ‘tactical quick-win projects’ in relation to ‘transformational change.’

Such contemporary phrases are delivered overtly, but you have to do some painstaking research to discover that members of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) effectively attract twice as much funding as do NZ Army personnel.

If you divide the money spent on each service by the number of personnel involved, you find that an average of $90,330 was spent per soldier, almost twice as much ($173,395) per airperson and more than twice as much, $196,864, per sailor.

No wonder there are outbreaks of inter-service rivalry.

Notable activities for the period include routine operations in support of other government agencies – including Fisheries, Customs, Conservation and Police – in and around NZ becoming ‘core business’ for the NZDF and the overdue introduction into operational service of the last of the Navy’s Protector fleet of ships.

Yet for all the delays and challenges involved with the new ships it is the Navy that is singled out for exceeding expectations, with the Navy’s Combat Force of two frigates exceeding targeted sea days by 17 per cent, the mine countermeasures and diving force exceeding their target by 16 per cent and the Inshore Patrol Vessels (IPVs) beating their target for sea days by 11 per cent.

Less easily expressed as a statistic, yet clearly valuable, the NZ Army provided a High Preparedness Platoon Group for short notice contingencies and the Air Force’s Orions flew more than 60 missions, including 16 search and rescue missions; 10 surveillance flights in the South Pacific; 40 missions in support of other Government agencies and two southern ocean patrols.

Less positive details included in the Report include only three of the five SH-2G Seasprite helicopters being available for military tasks, not least because only four out of six crews were available to fly them.

Targeted flying time for the Seasprites were between 1,240 and 1,370 hours, although they only achieved 882 hours.

Last year the Naval Helicopter Force managed more than 1,100 hours and cost some NZ$6 million less in expenses.

Thanks to all their agency work the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Orions came close to their minimum target (2,232 hours) with 2,110 hours, the lower figure attributed to delays in the P-3K2 upgrade project.

Last year the Maritime Patrol Force flew 30 more hours and cost about NZ$21 million less to operate.

The two ubiquitous RNZAF Boeing 757s also fell short of their minimum target of 1,330 hours, achieving only 1,082 due, says the Report, to extended servicing and a lack of spares.

No surprise that the C-130H Hercules fleet didn’t achieve their minimum hours either; flying only 1,752 hours towards the minimum target of 1,995 hours, with the continuing delays in the type’s Life Extension Program blamed for the low figure.

Last year the RNZAF’s air transport fleet flew 102 hours more and cost NZ$60 million less.

A similar situation applies to the RNZAF’s Iroquois helicopter fleet, with less than half the fleet available for tasking.

Nevertheless the Hueys managed 3,652 hours (target minimum 3,452 hours) and cost $127 million whereas the previous year they flew 22 per cent more hours at 93 per cent of the cost.

It should be noted, however, that the way the financial aspects are calculated for the NZDF, every ‘output’ has the potential to show a surplus and in the case of the veteran helicopter fleet the net figure shows a surplus of more than NZ$3 million, compared with a relatively paltry NZ$2 million the year before.

The bean counters can, of course, make the figures dance to their whim, but it is not so easy to juggle the days a ship spends at sea and the frigate Te Mana, targeted for 115 days at sea in fact achieved 188.

The other frigate, Te Kaha, managed 124 days.

No doubt in the Annual Report for 2011 the details of Output Expense 5: Naval Patrol Force will show many days at sea for the two Offshore Patrol Vessels Otago and Wellington which were scheduled to be mission available this year for 273 and 312 days respectively.

In fact they managed no days at all during the fiscal year, yet still cost NZ$101 million.

However, in the mysterious ways of NZDF accounting, they returned a modest net surplus of more than NZ$1 million.

Indeed, overall the NZDF returned a NZ$30 million surplus for the last financial year.

Looking ahead, Minister of Defence Dr Wayne Mapp has said the imminent Defence White Paper would commit the Government to replacing the two frigates when they become obsolete in 2030.

It is likely a contract to buy new ships would need to be agreed some time in the 2020s and at around NZ$1 billion each the new frigates would cost about double the price of the existing ships.