Army Thanks to Raymond Gray (Hauraki Regiment) for much of the information in this section. Currently the New Zealand Army has two regular force light infantry battalions (1
RNZIR and 2/1 RNZIR with RNZIR standing for Royal New Zealand Infantry
Regiment). A seperate unit (Queen Alexandras Mounted Rifles) operates and
crews the APCs which are attached as needed. The infantry doctrines are
heavy on patrolling in close country and reconnisance. More attention is
slowly being paid to open country operations and set piece infantry battles.
The territorial force (which are more like part time soldiers than National
Guard weekend warriors) number six Regimental groupings. Each 'Regiment'
has to be able to field an infantry company at any point in time. Each
grouping also has a specialty for which another company sized unit has to be
provided. THis may be armor, reconnisance, engineers, artillery etc. The NZ forces are reknowned for their ability to make do with little or no
equipment. Their scrounging ability in particular is famous, with many a
visiting Australian unit losing much of their kit. All the silverware from
a certain Australian base is on proud display at the Waiouru sergeants and
warrant officers mess! An infantry patrol (4-5 men)has 1 Minime MGs and 1 M203 as support weapons
Equipment Infantry Weapons:
- Steyr AUG (Australian Manufactured).
- Rifle and carbine weapons.
- C9 Minime 5.56mm MG.
- M203 grenade launchers (fitted to Steyr Rifles)
- GPMG 7.62mm Heavy MG
- M72 Law
- Carl Gustav
Vehicles
- Landrover (purchased up until 1986)
- M113A3 APC (seventy odd of them plus usual variants such as field ambulance, recovery etc). There are still bullet holes from Vietnam visible in some of the older M113s.
- Scorpion light tanks (a dozen are in mothballs and can be reactivated if
needed, but are in a bad state). - The entire vehicle fleet is being replaced within the next two years, LAV
gen 3 has been selected as the replacement vehicle. - Mercedes Unimog Trucks
Special Forces New Zealand SAS - SAS Table. This unit trains with the Australian SAS. Add Tracking 2 to first-term skills. The SAS (which numbers around 120 active members at any one time) are very
highly trained and motivated. Our correspondent in New Zealand, Raymond Gray of the Hauraki Regiment, says:
“ I was doing an OP once and a guy on sentry in the rear of our position rolled away to have a pee and when he rolled back his rifle was gone. A SAS dude had nicked it. The rifle turned up in a locked truck next to the sleeping driver.”
A third of the members of the NZSAS rotate through the “boat troop”. The recon platoon from 1 RNZIR is also very good, a step away from the SAS. Use the LRRP tables.
Royal New Zealand Navy
- 1 Leander class frigate (ex Royal Navy) expected useful life through to 2005
- 2 ANZAC class frigates: Te Mana (the “Pride” or “Personal Respect”) and Te Kaha (The “Bravery” or “Strength”)
- various support ships.
Royal New Zealand Air Force
- 20 A4k Skyhawks, updated with a 'useful' life through to 2005
- 14 Iroqouis helos
- 5 C-130H Hercules
- 6 P3B Orions
Prior Conflicts
- Occupation Forces in Japan until 1949.
- Korea: air, naval and ground units involved
- Malaysian Emergency
- Vietnam (SAS, infantry, artillery etc)
- Falklands (no units saw combat but many were deployed in support roles or to cover gaps left by the deployment of British Forces)
- Gulf War (SAS forces, medical units, transport aircraft)
- Many peacekeeping assignments around the world, most significantly Bosnia and East Timor.
Additionally SAS troops routinely see action overseas while 'seconded' to
the British SAS. This process allows the government to avoid declaring NZ troops’ involvement. NZ infantry patrols in East Timor are 15-18 days long with no resupply. NZ was a step away from intervening in the FIji coup of the late eighties. There were four C-130s filled with SAS and infantry on the runway ready to
go before the stand down came from the Prime Minister.
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