$277M for frigate ‘too much’

Press, 27 November 1980, Page 6

$277M for frigate ‘too much’

PA Wellington The cost of the frigate proposed to replace the ageing Otago, but turned down by the Cabinet, was $227 million, said a Defence Department spokesman yesterday. The spokesman said this amount would have to come out of a defence budget of $4OO m’Hion. / The Minister of Defence (Mr Thomson) had said the ship was considered too expensive. _ According to the Defence Department spokesman, the ship proposed and recommended was of the Dutch Kortenaer class. He quoted the figure of $lB7 million as the “sailaway” cost, with mother $4O million to be spent ,on spates, training, ■nd ammunition. ;

By comparison, the new frigate Canterbury in 1971 cost $2l million, out of a defence budget of $llO million.

The ship then took about a fifth of the budget, whereas today’s replacement was well over half.

The Royal New Zealand Navy runs three combat frigates — Otago, Canterbury, and Waikato —- with the Taranaki used for fishery protection and special train- ' The Otago, commissioned in 1961, is due to be phased out “sometime in the 1980 s," according to the Defence Department spokesman. Mr Thomson said further studies would be made to find out the best , way for N w Zealand to meet its defence commitments.