Defence forces will exercise in islands

Press, 8 July 1986, Page 35

Defence forces will exercise in islands

PA Wellington A major New Zealand defence exercise will be held in the Cook Islands between July 8 and August 5, a spokesman for the Defence Department said.

Called Joint Venture 86, the exercise involves all three services.

Ships, aircraft and land forces would exercise under control of a national Joint Force Commander based at Rarotonga, the spokesman said.

About 1000 servicemen and servicewomen will take part, with some 450 men in naval ships, and the rest based on Rarotonga, and on five islands in the Cook Islands’ southern group. The exercise is the first by New Zealand’s Armed Forces under the concept of national joint command. The forces will be under the command of the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Sir

Ewan Jamieson, from Defence Headquarters in Wellington.

Sir Ewan has delegated immediate command responsibilities in the Cook Islands to Colonel Tom Aldridge, of Papakura, appointed Joint Force Commander for the exercise.

Colonel Aldridge will control all defence elements in the exercise. The Minister of Defence, Mr O’Flynn, said the exercise was a graphic expression of the Government’s intention to make the Armed Forces more self-reliant and more ready to honour New Zealand’s security commitments throughout the South Pacific. Joint Venture 86 will have a series of subsidiary exercises and events.

There will be three phases to the exercise.

Forces from New Zealand will be deployed to the Cook Islands and later returned to New Zealand.

There will be 11 relatively small and unconnected military exercises

in the Cook Islands, most involving elements of at least two services. Twenty-five civic aid tasks will be tackled throughout the islands.

Several joint-force agencies have been established to command and control the exercise in the islands and New Zealand.