Troops converge as ‘war’ hits South Island
Military convoys rolling across the alternative route from Picton to Christchurch this week are part of the country’s largest biennial armed forces exercise.
Soldiers and equipment are being transferred for Exercise Southern Katipo, being staged in the upper South Island.
The New Zealand Transport Agency said more than 100 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) vehicles, army trucks and larger vehicles would be moved from Burnham Military Camp, near Christchurch, to Omaka Air Base in Blenheim overnight until Friday.
NZDF director of joint exercise planning Lieutenant Colonel Martin Dransfield said Blenheim residents should also expect an increased military presence.
‘‘They’re going to see a lot of military vehicles in the town,’’ he said.
Southern Katipo is New Zealand’s largest military exercise, held every two years in varying parts of the country.
This year’s exercise starts today in the Marlborough, Kaikoura, Tasman and Buller regions and runs until November 18.
It will involve up to 2500 military personnel and 500 role-players.
Continuing on from the scenario used for 2015, the area will once again become the troubled Becara region, still suffering from political instability and unrest. New Zealand has been requested to assemble and lead an intervention force comprising a coalition of Pacific Island Forum member states.
Soldiers from Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Brunei, Malaysia and Timor Leste will be taking an active part in the exercise alongside New Zealand, with small contingents from Australia, Canada, the United States, France and Britain also involved.
US Air Force C-17 Globemasters and Royal Australian Air Force C-130J Hercules will parachute loads onto selected drop zones in the exercise area.
A number of navy ships will be based off the coast between Kaikoura and the Marlborough Sounds as other elements of the contingent arrive by sea over the beach in Okiwi Bay and across the wharf at Picton.
The involvement of personnel from 12 nations, local communities and 15 non-government organisations, Police, Customs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had created ‘‘a big regional buzz’’, Dransfield said.