Defence review studies smaller search aircraft

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Smaller aircraft may be used to patrol New Zealand and South Pacific territorial waters, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp says.

Dr Mapp said the air force's Orion patrol aircraft were ideal for long-range missions but were more sophisticated than necessary for patrolling New Zealand's exclusive economic zone. "An option to cover this gap would be to have shorter-range, less advanced aircraft to cover the lower-level tasks. This would let us do more tasks for ourselves and help our South Pacific neighbours by basing these aircraft in the islands from time to time."

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission said last month smaller, slower planes with larger windows might have been more useful in the search for survivors after the sinking of the ferry Princess Ashika off Tonga in August.

Dr Mapp said smaller aircraft would be considered in a defence review. Its completion has been delayed six months while the Government tries to find savings of $50 million a year in the $2.1 billion Defence Force budget.

The review, which began last year, was to have been completed at the end of this month.

Earlier this week, Dr Mapp said there was scope to make savings by merging army, navy and air force human resource and training systems. Savings could also be made using public-private partnerships on defence bases.

- © Fairfax NZ News