Small But Mighty

The New Zealand Defence Force is reviewed by military publication Jane’s which describes the Force as “always attempting to perform on the world stage at a level that belies the size of its defence force.” “The past decade has reinforced this trend, with the NZDF involved in an unprecedented number of international peacekeeping missions. Current deployments include Afghanistan, Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands. ‘New Zealand defence has an unusually high level of complexity for its size. These features put a premium on strategy and planning, and suggest that regular reviews of defence are essential,’ says a defence portfolio briefing, which was released under the Official Information Act. Meanwhile, the pending completion of a major capability renewal programme will see the replacement or upgrade of most key platforms across the three services in a significant advance on the NZDF’s largely 1960s-era legacy equipment.” Currently 886 NZDF personnel are deployed on 14 operations, UN missions and defence exercises in 10 countries around the world.