Royal New Zealand Navy Discussions and Updates

ASSAIL

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Yes it is pathetic Gibbo. And the IPV's leaving service has been signalled for years so it is not like they have had no warning.

As the inshore role requirement decreased the offshore role increased and one wonders how hard would have been to simply spend not a hell of a lot of money to build a couple of rugged, nothing fancy, do what it is meant to do on the tin Offshore Patrol Vessels along the lines of a licensed Batch 1 River Class or similar to replace the the four IPV's.

It is a shame that as an interim solution we could not have snapped up the three Royal Navy B1 Rivers before their decommissioning was reversed 12 months ago due to potential post brexit wobbles.

The NZ Government has a $7.5B+ surplus at present or in other words $20 million a day being left over. Crikey, just one weeks worth of that pot of cash and the OPV/IPV problem would be solved for at least a decade, never mind the cold hard cash we'd get for the four lightly used IPV's anyway.

Let put it in perspective. Could one imagine the outcry if the NZ Police announced tomorrow that they were going to take off the road one third of their patrol cars from next month!
Mr C- would a change in government make any difference? I haven’t followed the Nationals Defence plans.
The news here is that Jacinda has gone off the boil.
 

KiwiRob

Well-Known Member
Let put it in perspective. Could one imagine the outcry if the NZ Police announced tomorrow that they were going to take off the road one third of their patrol cars from next month!
Wrong analogy, there would be plenty of happy people if revenue gathering machines masquerading as police patrol cars were removed from the road, a better one would have been ambulances or fire trucks.
 

MrConservative

Super Moderator
Staff member
Wrong analogy, there would be plenty of happy people if revenue gathering machines masquerading as police patrol cars were removed from the road, a better one would have been ambulances or fire trucks.
I take it you have had a speeding ticket or two lately Rob. :D
 

KiwiRob

Well-Known Member
I take it you have had a speeding ticket or two lately Rob. :D
Hell no, I can't afford to speed in Norway, the minimum ticket would be about 400NZD and they go up from there. The last ticket I recieved was in German doing 160 in a 130 zone, €30 plus the rental car company slapped me with a €29,95 service fee.
 

t68

Well-Known Member
Hell no, I can't afford to speed in Norway, the minimum ticket would be about 400NZD and they go up from there. The last ticket I recieved was in German doing 160 in a 130 zone, €30 plus the rental car company slapped me with a €29,95 service fee.

not bad for 30 over, I did that not long ago in NSW went from 110 down to 80 not paying attention to were I was got done for 32 over at $872 and loss of licence for 3 mths
 

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
not bad for 30 over, I did that not long ago in NSW went from 110 down to 80 not paying attention to were I was got done for 32 over at $872 and loss of licence for 3 mths
Yee-ouch. That's gotta hurt. Bugger.
 

kiwipatriot69

Active Member
Someone seriously stirred someones corn flakes on that other forum. Hope your position here avoids being banned as I love the banter and bluster.
People here mention it will take something major happening to change the lazy mindset of politicians and voters on defence.I think climate change not just the changing security and political unrest in the Pacific should be at the forefront of this It's the existentential threat we are feeling now

. So surely more tools in the box, i.e. bigger and more ships, planes personell etc shouldn't be a hard sell to Joe public if sold in this way.Droughts,tropical storms and major fires dont just affect our neighbours across the ditch or elsewhere for that matter,its our economy, our people and our homes too.
 

Novascotiaboy

Active Member
If a nation cant protect its own people at home how can they do it over seas. A well equipped military has a primary role to be able to fight but its formation and structure offers multiple capacities to a nation in support of all that you listed.

One or two leased ships for the SOPV role should be considered IMHO to take pressure off of whats left in the navy and build a base of knowledge before a vessel is procured.
 

MrConservative

Super Moderator
Staff member
People here mention it will take something major happening to change the lazy mindset of politicians and voters on defence.I think climate change not just the changing security and political unrest in the Pacific should be at the forefront of this It's the existentential threat we are feeling now

. So surely more tools in the box, i.e. bigger and more ships, planes personell etc shouldn't be a hard sell to Joe public if sold in this way.Droughts,tropical storms and major fires dont just affect our neighbours across the ditch or elsewhere for that matter,its our economy, our people and our homes too.
To a certain extent Ron Mark has pushed that line, notably in the DCP and recent speeches. He was able to get the other coalition partners onboard. Which is a step forward in the right direction.
 

t68

Well-Known Member
Someone seriously stirred someones corn flakes on that other forum. Hope your position here avoids being banned as I love the banter and bluster.
Certainly did, one thing I noticed is that it appeared by the moderator on that forum people were complaining about they were talking Navy on a aviation forum, but then I realised it actually was a sub-forum to discuss Navy and the sea lift ships as part of the NZ DCP. I found that quite weird that they shut it down, it was actually a very interesting read.

I saw some of the posts by the Nighthawk fella that I linked to recently seems to know what he is talking about, no idea if Ng is that Senob fella according to that site mod they are one and the same but anyho seemed to a good grasp of the subject.
 

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
People here mention it will take something major happening to change the lazy mindset of politicians and voters on defence.I think climate change not just the changing security and political unrest in the Pacific should be at the forefront of this It's the existentential threat we are feeling now

. So surely more tools in the box, i.e. bigger and more ships, planes personell etc shouldn't be a hard sell to Joe public if sold in this way.Droughts,tropical storms and major fires dont just affect our neighbours across the ditch or elsewhere for that matter,its our economy, our people and our homes too.
Yep and I am one of those who does. I've written some of my thoughts on this in a blog and to quote part of it:

"The English language title of the national anthem of New Zealand is "God Defend New Zealand", and the during the recent history of New Zealand from 1991 until today, one could be forgiven thinking God is basically the only one defending New Zealand. Kiwi politicians (pollies) are great on talking the big talk about defence, however when it comes to walking the walk, they are noticeable by their absence and lack of action. Regardless of their party affiliation, when it comes to defence, the vast majority of them have deep pockets and very short arms, combined with myopic vision that only sees votes and no farther than the next election ...

There are four parts to what I call the defence conundrum:

  • Politicians.
    • Politicians don't care because there is no backlash at the ballot box. They appear to think that defence is a luxury, not a necessity. However the pollies don't think long term and don't look at long term consequences. Their focus is always the ballot box - the next election, and any political debate about defence at election time has been smothered, because both Labour and National have a backroom agreement not to discuss it.
  • Public apathy.
    • The general public don't really care about defence until something bad happens such as a natural disaster or a war, or every ANZAC Day when they gather in their thousands to honour those who have died in foreign wars and those who have served. However for the other 364 days defence is forgotten, unless a natural disaster occurs and NZDF is at the forefront of relief efforts, or is involved in a SAR (Search & Rescue)."
The other two are Bureaucrats and Treasury which I go into more detail in the blog. I haven't linked it here because I will have to enquire with other Mods about the protocols and if I am allowed to do so.

There is also a recent article about the loss of strategic control of the South China Sea by the west. The SCS is a strategic SLOC and the first time that the west lost control of it was in 1940 / 41 to Imperial Japan after the fall of France in Europe and Siam becoming a Japanese ally, and now with the PRC fortifying it. Whilst the article talks about the implications for Australia, those same implications are for NZ as well, considering that a significant component of our SLOC transit the SCS.

Whilst there is talk about the US taking the lead in defending the Pacific, compared to the past it appears to be somewhat less robust and as this article suggests, feeble in its response to Chinas aggression. This means that we have to look more to ourselves and take responsibility for our defence.
 

Rob c

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
There are four parts to what I call the defence conundrum:
  • Politicians.
    • Politicians don't care because there is no backlash at the ballot box. They appear to think that defence is a luxury, not a necessity. However the pollies don't think long term and don't look at long term consequences. Their focus is always the ballot box - the next election, and any political debate about defence at election time has been smothered, because both Labour and National have a backroom agreement not to discuss it.
  • Public apathy.
    • The general public don't really care about defence until something bad happens such as a natural disaster or a war, or every ANZAC Day when they gather in their thousands to honour those who have died in foreign wars and those who have served. However for the other 364 days defence is forgotten, unless a natural disaster occurs and NZDF is at the forefront of relief efforts, or is involved in a SAR (Search & Rescue)."
I personally believe that the problem can be laid at the feet of the politicians due to the tacit agreement they have between them not to debate defence. This means the public have little knowledge or information on defence and there is no robust debate or significant readily available information available to the public for defence to be a subject of importance to them. In a previous post some time ago I noted that a poll had shown 39% of those polled wanted an increase in defence spending, which I think is remarkable considering the lack of debate and the lack of support for the subject by the Pollies. It is likely that the pollies won't debate the subject due to a fear by them that support for defence would grow forcing them to significant spend money on defence, that they want to use for buying votes and this is not allowed. The other point is that the average voter is overawed by the small but very vocal anti defence protest movement and does not realise that the pro defence voter has in fact a significantly large majority.
 
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MrConservative

Super Moderator
Staff member
Well some Pollies with strong Defence backgrounds are starting to enter politics which is a big help.

Wing Commander Tim Costley has been selected to replace Nathan Guy in the safe seat of Otaki. Tim has flown the Huey and NH90 and has a Master’s degree in International Defence and Security and is the founder of The Missing Wingman Trust.

First term MP Chris Penk who took over John Key's seat Helensville is a former Naval Officer, which included serving as an officer of the watch on the HMNZS Te Kaha, aide-de-camp to the Governor-General in 2003. Later, transferring to the RAN as navigating officer of Collins-class submarine HMAS Sheean in 2006.
 
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