It will be the first time in more than a decade that a New Zealand warship has fired any kind of missile and marks an important milestone in certifying the New Zealand frigate force for operations.
HMNZS Te Mana (F111) arrived off the Australian coast on July 24th ahead of exercises that will include the first firing of the ship’s new Sea Ceptor missile system. In 2022 Te Mana returned home to Aotearoa New Zealand after completing a lengthy upgrade in Canada. The deployment to Australia forms the final link in a lengthy chain that will result in the ship being re certified for combat operations.
Te Mana left Devonport Naval Base on July 17th for a five month deployment that will take it from Australia up into Southeast Asia. During its deployment Te Mana will be accompanied by HMNZS Aotearoa (A11) which is scheduled to arrive in Australia next month. Together, they’ll undertake a range of at sea training activities with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), before deploying to Southeast Asia for exercises with Five Powers Defence Arrangements (FPDA) countries.
A Once in a decade event
A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) spokesperson told Naval News that it was the NZDFs “intent” for Te Mana to fire a Sea Ceptor missile at some time during the deployment to Australia. However, due to operational security concerns, they declined to elaborate on specific details about the training regime that Te Mana will undertake with the RAN.
The RNZN last fired an air-defence missile during Exercise RIMPAC 2012 when HMNZS Te Kaha brought down a target with a legacy RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile. Speaking at the Australian Naval Institute last month, Dame Annette King, Aotearoa New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Australia said that the RAN would actively support the RNZNs first missile firing in over a decade.
“[From] the end of July to the end of November two HMNZS ships, Te Mana and Aotearoa, will be in Australia. Australian crew will be onboard giving support as we test our new capability. I’m told part of the exercise is missile firing”
Dame Annette King
Naval News understands that the missile shot will occur within the massive East Australian Exercise Area, off of Sydney.
Missiles not the only goal
The RNZNs Anzac class frigates have undergone extensive upgrades in recent years and many capabilities need testing and certification beyond the missiles. These include the new Combat Management System (CMS), radars, electronic support equipment, and a range of other capability improvements big and small. To do so, Naval News understands, the NZDF will make use of high-end training capabilities in Australia that simply don’t exist across the Tasman.
The deployment is also valuable for the RNZN because it provides sailors the opportunity, denied during the Covid-19 pandemic, to go to sea and see the world. The RNZN, along with the wider NZDF, is in the midst of a personal crisis which has forced it to lay up three of its nine commissioned ships due to workforce shortages. Allowing sailors to go to sea, something they signed up for, is a critical part of changing that, said a NZDF spokesperson.
Beyond Australia and into Asia
Once initial training with Australian Defence Force (ADF) is completed the RNZN group will deploy to Southeast Asia where it will conduct a range of port visits and smaller bilateral exercises. The headline event, however, will be its participation alongside other FPDA members in Exercise Bersama Lima which is scheduled for October.
The RNZN last sent ships to a Bersama-series exercise in October 2021 when HMNZS Aotearoa and Te Kaha (F77) joined ships from Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and the United Kingdom for Exercise Bersama Gold 2021.
Both ships will return to Aotearoa New Zealand in November this year.
