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| HMNZS Canterbury |
By Nick Lee-Frampton
WELLINGTON, Australia — The 2012 Annual Report of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) reveals enhanced attention on the South Pacific.
“Our Pacific neighbourhood is the primary focus,” Lt. Gen. Rhys Jones, the chief of Defence Force, writes in the report.
At the heart of the strategy, or as the report describes it, a “key enabler,” is the establishment of a Joint Amphibious Task Force (JATF), based on the Navy’s amphibious flagship HMNZS Canterbury, capable of transporting 250 troops.
Supported by Anzac-class frigates, P-3K2 Orion surveillance aircraft and NH90 helicopters, the JATF is scheduled to be “in place” by 2015.
While the JATF will primarily be structured for the deployment of combat forces, says the NZDF, its most likely contingencies will be humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and “conducting missions in our region to support nation building.”
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