Ministerial delays ‘worrying’ Armed Forces

Press, 24 January 1986, Page 9

Ministerial delays ‘worrying’ Armed Forces

PA Wellington The Army’s Chief of General Staff, Major-Gen-eral John Mace, was forced to make a direct appeal to the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, last year over the head of the Minister of Defence, Mr O’Flynn, the "Evening Post” has said.

The newspaper said General Mace made his appeal to Mr Lange after Mr O’Flynn had delayed until the eleventh hour approval for an Army colonel to be posted to a course at the Canadian National Defence College. Such appeals to the Prime Minister can -be made under the Defence Act, 1971, by all three service chiefs. They are made only rarely, and if the Chief of Staff considers the circumstances exceptional. The “Post” said that General Mace made the appeal because otherwise the smooth succession of command at the top levels of the Army would have been hampered. Promotion above certain ranks in the services is dependent on having completed courses such as those the colonel was scheduled to attend in Canada.

Mr Lange allowed General Mace’s appeal. There has, however, been at least one other occasion in which Ministerial approval for overseas training posting was delayed until the last minute, the newspaper says.

Matters other than training have also worried the services. Of particular concern has been delays in buying much-needed equipment. The Army’s choice of a 5.5 in artillery weapon was sidelined after the Army had decided on a suitable

gun and the programme and funds had been earmarked. This meant the gun choice had to go through the Cabinet approval process where on December 18 a decision was deferred until the Defence Review Committee reports and the Defence Review is finished.

The “Post” said objections were raised to the chosen weapon on the grounds that it appeared too offensive and, because of its size, was too obtrusive.

The Navy has also had difficulties in getting agreement to make a $6 million saving on buying a tug and target-towing vessel for the Devonport Naval Base. The chance arose when the Navy was offered a tug by the Timaru Harbour Board for about $1 million. A new vessel would have cost about $47 million.

Finally, after considerable lobbying, the Navy was able to get agreement to go ahead and buy the Timaru tug. The decision was apparently the first big buying ! decision for the Navy made by Mr O’Flynn — but it was not done until he had been in office for more than seven months. The “Post” said the outflow of trained personnel from the services is particularly crucial in the middle ranks with officers with marketable skills heading for civilian jobs. According to a Navy assessment it will take 10 years to replace those who have left in the last 12 months even if recruiting targets are met in full.

This is considered unlikely. Recruiters have even found themselves unwelcome at certain schools which formerly provided a number of re-

cruits each year. In some areas of the Services it is believed levels of manning are at a similar level to that which led the Air Force last year to place a ban on any further aircrew leaving for civilian jobs. At one point early last year the Air Force was so short of pilots that pilots serving in administrative posts at Defence Headquarters in Wellington were posted to squadrons so a minimum level of activity could be maintained. Even with the ban on aircrew leaving the Air Force within two years of their resignation there are only two operational crews posted to No. 5 squadron which flies the Orion maritime surveillance aircraft. This raises the question of the usefulness of a sixth Orion bought last year from the Royal Australian Air Force. The squadron now has four more aircraft than operational crews. Last year considerable publicity was made of the difficulties associated with the refit of H.M.N.Z.S. Wellington because of shortages of trades people at Devonport Naval Dockyard.

Less well known are the operational problems this has caused the Navy’s other frigates. Last year, H.M.N.Z.S. Southland went on exercises with defects in its anti-submarine navigation radar, its weapons systems and its weapons data system. H.M.N.Z.S. Waikato is long overdue for a refit and there are fears this could lead to a serious breakdown if the frigate is asked to do much. The A.N.Z.U.S. crisis continues to have ramifications for the services. It is believed that the re-

cently approved avionics improvement for the R.N.Z.A.F.’s Skyhawk comes with a number of conditions. Among these is that certain key parts of the new system cannot be repaired in New Zealand but must be shipped back intact to the United States.