New Zealand navy task group returns home after North Korea sanctions patrols and RIMPAC

New Zealand's navy has brought home a two-ship task group after about four months in the Indo-Pacific, a deployment in which the frigate HMNZS Te Mana took part for the first time in patrols to monitor United Nations Security Council sanctions on North Korea. The New Zealand Defence Force announced the return on Friday 23 October. The group was made up of Te Mana, an Anzac-class frigate, and the sustainment ship HMNZS Aotearoa.

The defence force did not say where the sanctions patrols took place or how long they lasted. Commodore Shane Arndell, its maritime component commander, said the deployment showed how versatile the multi-purpose Anzac-class frigate is when patrolling to detect and monitor sanctions evasion, with Aotearoa keeping it supplied.

The sanctions work was one part of a busy programme. The two ships joined the Rim of the Pacific exercise, which the defence force described as the largest combined and joint maritime exercise in the world, with 30 nations and around 30,000 personnel. After leaving North Asia, the task group sailed to the Philippines for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Maritime Security Joint Cooperative Activity in Subic Bay and the South China Sea. It made port calls on the way home, including in Papua New Guinea.

Aotearoa carried out 45 replenishments at sea for ships from six partner nations: Australia, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy and Japan. It was the first time the ship had refuelled Italian or Japanese warships. The defence force said that passing fuel to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship Ise put into practice the newly ratified Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement between Japan and New Zealand.

The air force and army were also active in the region. Royal New Zealand Air Force personnel and P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft flew maritime domain awareness patrols, operating out of the Philippines during this deployment, which the defence force called a growing defence relationship for New Zealand.

On land, a New Zealand Army platoon trained in Indonesia for the first time, joining an Australian company on Exercise Super Garuda Shield. Army engineers, medical staff and cyber specialists took part in the multinational Exercise Trident Resolve in Indonesia, where New Zealand co-chaired the humanitarian assistance and disaster response working group. With its partners in the Five Power Defence Arrangements, the defence force also sent a P-8A Poseidon, an infantry platoon and a navy boarding team to Exercise Bersama Lima in Singapore.

Brigadier Mick Bassingthwaighte, deputy commander of Joint Forces New Zealand, said the deployments at sea, on land and in the air showed the defence force's commitment to the international rules-based system in New Zealand's near region. He praised the professionalism of the personnel involved and said each exercise and patrol made it easier to work with partners, adding that New Zealand's security and prosperity depend on the stability of the wider region. The release highlighted close cooperation with Australia, New Zealand's only formal ally.

Commander Tuijo Thompson, who commands Te Mana, said the task group had performed very well and that for many of the crew this was their first operational deployment. The defence force did not report any encounters with Chinese or North Korean vessels during the patrols and did not say whether suspected sanctions breaches were detected.