Joint Waka, a New Zealand Defence Force amphibious operations exercise, gathered all three services for beach landing and advanced assault training at Army Bay, north of Auckland.
The exercise is aimed at training and testing the NZDF’s capabilities for amphibious operations and involves the Navy’s amphibious support vessel HMNZS Canterbury, soldiers from 1 Brigade at Linton, and three NH90 helicopters from No 3 Squadron at Ohakea.
The Commander Joint Forces New Zealand, Major General Tim Gall, said that although the NZDF has frequently demonstrated the ability to deploy a combined force, Joint Waka is designed to further enhance its amphibious capability.
“The ability to work together seamlessly and with maximum efficiency is a cornerstone of a successful deployed joint force that can deal with any of the contingencies we face at home and overseas including natural disasters and humanitarian crises,” he said.
“Joint Waka also ties in with Exercise Southern Katipo, our major international exercise in New Zealand later this year, which will be a further opportunity for the three Services to conduct integrated training in a simulated deployed environment.”
NZDF said the exercise would continue tomorrow.