New Zealand is scrapping its combat air arm. The 17 A-4Ks and 17 Aermacchi MB.339CBs will be retired in December of 2001 and put up for sale. They will not be replaced. There was a ridiculous plan to lease 24 F-16s, which the previous government organized out of the blue just before they were kicked out of office. It was about the first thing the new government canned when it got into office. The six P-3K Orions will be retained for maritime patrol, but will lose their ASW sensors, or at least not have them upgraded. A planned major ASW sensor refit probably won’t take place - people keep carrying on about a NZ$550M upgrade for hunting subs that have never been found in 35 years. They plan to fit them with Harpoon, presumably an earlyish model. They are also considering Penguin for the SH-2s. And why didn’t they just do that in the first place, the world wonders. According to a navy chap I was talking to a couple of years ago they wanted Lynx but the MoD or Westland or whoever organizes that stuff said that they had to buy Sea Skua as well, which is too expensive. If I recall correctly, that was before the first SH-2 deliveries, so I don’t know if they’re happy with what they’ve got but it has to be an improvement over a Wasp! Canterbury will not be replaced by another frigate (which will leave a two-frigate “navy”). Instead, they will acquire a “multipurpose” vessel -- whatever that is. Cantebury’s just got some major work done to her elderly steam plant. She will be retired in 2005. The RNZN Anzacs now have CIWS fitted. Not sure about the RAN ones. A friend of mine saw them both at the wharf in Auckland with the big white rubbish bin on them. A second 9LV200 wouldn’t go astray. We found the peril of only having one director in a recent H 4 game. We were trying to shoot down four Maverick-armed Skyhawks attacking down low and only got one... Charles Upham will be put up for sale in July. Despite the $35M rework always being budgeted for her since the purchase, it has never happened, and the current government doesn’t think it’s worth it. BT Back to The Naval Sitrep #20 Table of Contents Back to Naval Sitrep List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com