Military Ability Not Assessed

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31440, 5 August 1967, Page 16

Military Ability Not Assessed

The maximum miltary contribution New Zealand could make in Vietnam had not been defined, the Chief of Defence Staff (Lieutenant - General Sir Leonard Thornton) said in Christchurch yesterday.

“We would be capable of sending forces to the extent required by the Government,” he said. Any of the services could provide a fight-

ing force. He declined to name likely units. Asked about the Special Air Service Squadron, which the Minister of Defence (Mr Thornton) last week described as' “battle ready,” General Thornton said that like all good soldiers they were eager to go. An Australian Special Air Service Squadron was already in Vietnam. If the New Zealand squadron were sent it would fit in with the Australian unit without much difficulty.

General Thornton was unable to say what New Zea-

land’s defence posture would be in the Far East once Britain withdrew her troops. A senior New Zealand officer was in Australia for exploratory talks on the subject with Australian and British military officials. It was an exploratory meeting, said General Thornton. It was important that New Zealand keep close to Australia in military thinking. He hoped the annual joint training exercises by troops of the two nations would take place again later this year. General Thornton said the Army now had enough men to replace the half-battalion relief in Malaysia and the company in Vietnam. Six hundred men were training at the depot of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment at Burnham. Army recruiting had picked up a little in the last six months. The services hoped for a better reengagement turn-over in view of the country’s present economic position.

General Thornton was unable to say how the recently negotiated SU.S.SSm loan from the United States would affect the priority of orders for defence equipment. Asked how much might be spent on the manufacture of defence equipment within the Dominion, General Thornton said it had always been the purpose of the military to have as much New Zealand content in its defence equipment as possible. But New Zealand was not a highly industrialised country. It did not have the capacity to pro-

duce many of the complex components needed. In overseas countries defence expenditure often contributed to the economy. But this was not so in New Zealand, where overseas exchange had to be used.