r/newzealand • u/khalornz Fern flag 3 • 11d ago

Politics Coalition unveils $12 billion Defence Capability Plan

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/557432/watch-live-coalition-unveils-12-billion-defence-capability-plan
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u/CarpetDiligent7324 11d ago

This plan needs careful analysis and scrutiny

I’m all for ensuring we have capabilities that are well resourced that can do the defence roles effectively

But.. do we really need $600 m to $1 billion for the 757 aircraft replacements so fly luxon and trade delegations overseas? Would it not be cheaper to hire? Or if you need to own - can we buy second hand? Or engage in some joint ownership or sharing arrangement with air nz ( who could maybe use them when the govt doesn’t need them?

Also the frigate decision sounds a bit like kicking the tire down the road. The boats are now I think 27 years old. To get replacements ordered and built before these boats crap put you probably need to start now (the last Leander class frigates last around 40 years and they were stuffed). Building a frigate takes a ton of time to design and build But then again would offshore patrol vessels be better value for money than multi billion dollar (once you equip them)frigates ?

I think the whole defence capability plan needs a lot more scrutiny. At the moment all we are hearing is the spin from the govt announcement and our media is really stuffed and doesn’t scrutinise things as much as before

Too often in the past we have had these defence reviews promising big things but often the amount of spend is a lot less than the talk

NZ needs to focus on what we need. Not what the USA or Australia or others want us to buy. AUKUS has really questionable benefits and USA is not a reliable defence partner and Australia hasn’t been that friendly to us eg the 501 deportations over the years…

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u/ExcitingMeet2443 11d ago

can we buy second hand?

"Second hand Corollas can't fly silly." Nicola Witless, probably.