Stretched thin: New Zealand's amphibious ship plan puts spotlight on scarce resources

摘要

One of the main highlights of the New Zealand Ministry of Defence's (MoD's) new Defence Capability Plan (DCP), released in June, was the decision to procure a new multirole sealift vessel. According to the DCP, the type of vessel that could be considered is a landing platform dock (LPD) that would complement and then replace the Royal New Zealand Navy's (RNZN's) existing ship, HMNZS Canterbury. The so-called 'Enhanced Sealift Capability' programme even includes plans to buy a second LPD - but this has distracted attention from changes implemented in other programmes. The MoD is struggling to sustain capabilities for the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) on its remaining budget of about NZD14.2 billion (USD9.5 billion), which has to last until 2030.