List of equipment of the New Zealand Army

This is a list of equipment used by the New Zealand Army

Vehicles
Model Image Origin Type Number Notes
Armoured vehicles
NZLAV  Canada Infantry fighting vehicle 105 105 NZLAVs, including 95 Infantry Mobility Vehicle (IMV), 7 Light Obstacle Blade Vehicle (LOB) and 3 Recovery Vehicle (LAV-R).The New Zealand armed forces purchased 105 LAV of which 102 were standard vehicles and 3 were redesigned for recovery.
Non-armoured vehicles
Pinzgauer High-Mobility All-Terrain Vehicle  Austria All-wheel drive vehicle 321 The NZ Army operates 321 Pinzgauer vehicles over eight variants to fulfill the Light Operational Vehicle (LOV) role.[1] They are currently being replaced under the Projected Mobility Project.[2]
MAN Medium and Heavy Operational Vehicle  Germany Medium/Heavy vehicle 194 The NZ Army operates 194 MAN HX58/60/77 Medium and Heavy Operational Vehicles (MHOV), they were brought into service in the mid-2010s in order to replace parts of the aging Unimog U1700 fleet.[3]
Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle  Australia Protected vehicle 5 (43 on order) Five Bushmaster Special Operations Vehicle-Protected Heavy (SOV-PH) vehicles are currently operated by the New Zealand Special Air Service. A further 43 vehicles are on order to replace the existing fleet of armored NZLOVs in the regular Army.[4][5]
Supacat HMT  Australia Special operations support vehicle ? In 2015 the Army purchased an undisclosed number of Supacat Extenda Special Operations Vehicles-Mobility Heavy (SOV-MH) vehicles in order to replace the NZLOV Special Operations Vehicles used by the New Zealand Special Air Service.[6]
JCB HMEE  United Kingdom Combat tractor 6 In 2011 six JCB High Mobility Engineer Excavator (HMEE) combat tractors were delivered to the Army, they are operated in support of Combat engineers.[7]
CAT 938K  United States
 United Kingdom		 Track laying vehicle 2 Equipped with the FAUN M30H Trackway Dispenser.[8]
BPRV  United States
 New Zealand		 Beach preparation and recovery vehicle 2 Based on Caterpillar D555 'forestry skidder'. In service with the Amphibious Beach Team, 5 Movements Company.[9]

Artillery
Model Image Origin Type Number Notes
L119 light gun  United Kingdom 105 mm towed field gun 24

Infantry weapons

Assault rifles and carbines
Name Origin Type Calibre Photo Notes
F88 Austeyr  Austria
 Australia		 Bullpup assault rifle 5.56×45mm NATO Used from 1988 until 2017. The first 5,000 weapons delivered were manufactured in Austria by Steyr Daimler Puch. The majority of weapons now in service are the Australian ADI-made Austeyr F88 variant. It is called the IW Steyr (Individual Weapon Steyr) in service of the New Zealand Defence Force.[10] On 12 August 2015 it was announced the Lewis Machine Tools 5.56 mm MARS-L will replace the Steyr AUG.[11]
M4 carbine  United States Carbine 5.56×45mm NATO Used by New Zealand Special Air Service.[12][13][14]
LMT MARS-L  United States Assault rifle 5.56×45mm NATO Adopted in 2015 to replace the Steyr AUG as the standard service rifle of the New Zealand Army. This weapon comes in 2 different barrel lengths and can take many modular attachments hence the name given by the NZDF to this rifle the Modular Assault Rifle System - Light (this is the same with LMT's own MARS-L, but is referred as the Modular Ambidextrous Rifle System - Light instead for its US civilian models). Most recent design upgrade with enhanced features based on the AR-15/M4/M-16 family of firearms.

Precision rifles
Name Origin Type Calibre Photo Notes
Accuracy International Arctic Warfare  United Kingdom Bolt action sniper rifle 7.62×51mm Replaced by the Barrett MRAD in 2018.
Barrett MRAD  United States Bolt action sniper rifle 7.62×51mm NATO and .338 Lapua Magnum Introduced in 2018 to replace the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare bolt action sniper rifle. Equipped with an ATACR 5-25×56 F1 Nightforce scope. Dual calibre configuration.[15]
LMT 308 MWS  United States Anti-materiel rifle 7.62×51mm NATO The New Zealand Army adopted the rifle in October 2011. It differs from its UK counterpart in the use of a Leupold adjustable 4.5-14× scope, canted iron sights and a foldable foregrip.
Barrett M107A1  United States Anti-materiel sniper rifle .50 BMG A semi-automatic sniper and anti-materiel rifle chambered in .50 BMG.[16] M107A1 to be introduced in 2018 [17]

Machine guns
Name Origin Type Calibre Photo Notes
Minimi  Belgium Light machine gun 5.56×45mm NATO The New Zealand Defence Force uses the Minimi under the designation C9 Minimi. This gun has been used as the Army's Light Support Weapon (LSW) since 1988.[18] The 7.62 Minimi TR was selected in Feb 2012 to replace the C9 LSW Minimi and will be known as the 7.62 LSW Minimi in NZDF service.[19]
FN MAG 58  Belgium General-purpose machine gun 7.62×51mm NATO The New Zealand Defence Force originally purchased the British-made L7A2 version of the MAG in 1976. These are now being replaced by several versions of the Belgian-made MAG-58, which was originally introduced into service as part of the introduction of the NZLAV. The FN-made MAGs are now used in the infantry light machine gun (LMG) role as a flexible mounted machine gun on the LOV and NH-90 and as a heavy sustained fire machine gun.[20]
Browning M2HB-QCB  United States Heavy machine gun .50 BMG Heavy machine gun not used at the infantry section level but rather as a heavy support weapon usually mounted on vehicles. It uses the .50 BMG cartridge and has an effective range in excess of 2,000 metres.

Pistols
Name Origin Type Calibre Photo Notes
Glock  Austria Semi-automatic pistol 9mm Standard issue pistol. Glock 17, 4th gen.
SIG Sauer P226  Germany Semi-automatic pistol 9mm Standard issue pistol. Being replaced by the Glock 17.

Shotguns
Name Origin Type Calibre Photo Notes
Benelli M3  Italy Shotgun 12-gauge

NZ Defence Force;[21] initially introduced in Army service in 2006.[22]

Grenade launchers
Name Origin Type Calibre Photo Notes
M203  United States Grenade launcher 40×46mm Attaches to the IW MARS-L (RM Equipment M203PI) and M4 (Colt M203-A1) rifles.
Heckler & Koch GMG  Germany Automatic grenade launcher 40×53mm Used by New Zealand Army.

Missile/rocket systems
Name Origin Type Calibre Photo Notes
Mistral (missile)  France Man-portable surface-to-air missile High explosive with high density tungsten balls 12 launchers, 70 rounds
66 mm Short-Range Anti-Armour Weapon (M72 LAW)  United States Anti-tank rocket launcher 66mm A single shot disposable anti-armour weapon
L14A1 Carl Gustav Medium Direct Fire Support Weapon  Sweden Recoilless rifle 84mm 42 M3 Carl Gustav, primarily used in the anti-armour role.
Javelin Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM)  United States Guided anti-armour missile 127mm 24 launchers 120 missiles

Mortars
Name Origin Type Calibre Photo Notes
F2 81mm Mortar[23]  United Kingdom
 Canada		 Mortar 81mm 50 L16A2 81 mm mortar
M6C-640T 60mm Mortar[23]  Austria Light mortar 60mm

Unmanned aerial vehicles
Name Image Origin Type Number Notes
Skycam Kahu  New Zealand Training and limited battlefield surveillance Kahu was developed by the Defence Technology Agency. It served as a vehicle for technology development and enabled the NZDF to gain first-hand experience as an RPAS operator. Kahu has also been deployed operationally on a limited basis.[24]
DJI Mavic Pro  China Training and Experimentation Purposes 26 Used as a concept, training and experimentation platform to assist the army in assessing future use cases for UAS systems. These systems are used only in unclassified training space, never connected to the Internet or NZDF networks, and are not for deployment.[25]
DJI Phantom 4 1
Black Hornet  Norway Reconnaissance and battlefield surveillance Used by the New Zealand Special Air Service.[24]

M113 replacement

New Zealand decided in 2003 to replace its existing fleet of M113 Armored Personnel Carriers, purchased in the 1960s, with the NZLAV, and the M113s were decommissioned by the end of 2004.[26] An agreement made to sell the M113s via an Australian weapons dealer in February 2006 had to be cancelled when the US State Department refused permission for New Zealand to sell the M113s under a contract made when the vehicles were initially purchased.[27]

The replacement of the M113s with the General Motors LAV III (NZLAV) led to a review in 2001 on the purchase decision-making by New Zealand's Auditor-General.[28] The review found short-comings in the defence acquisition process but not the eventual vehicle selected.

In 2010 the government said it would look at the possibility of selling 35 LAVs, around a third of the fleet, as being surplus to requirements.[29]

See also

References
  1. http://www.army.mil.nz/our-capability/operational-vehicles/nz-light-operational-vehicle.htm
  2. http://www.defsecmedia.co.nz/defence/autumn-2018-protected-mobility/#:~:text=The%20Protected%20Mobility%20project%20will,%2F19%20to%202028%2F29.
  3. http://www.army.mil.nz/our-capability/operational-vehicles/default.htm
  4. https://www.overtdefense.com/2019/08/01/new-zealand-protected-mobility-capability-project-begins/
  5. https://adbr.com.au/new-zealand-to-buy-43-bushmaster-pmvs/
  6. http://forcesoperations.com/en/supacat-for-kiwis/
  7. http://www.army.mil.nz/our-capability/operational-vehicles/combat-tractor.htm
  8. "Advance on the beach". issuu. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  9. "New Zealand Army | Army News - Issue 515, August 2020 page 9". Issuu. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  10. "NZ Army – Personal Weapons". army.mil.nz. Archived from the original on 18 December 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  11. "Hated army assault rifles unlikely to be sold". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 2014-06-20. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  12. "Unofficial New Zealand Special Air Service page". Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  13. "Split second decisions: police rules of engagement". The Sunday Star-Times. 1 February 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  14. "Replacement due for police rifles". New Zealand Police. 19 May 2005. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  15. NZ Defence Force (2017-11-22), New Sniper Rifle for the NZ Army, retrieved 2019-05-04
  16. Davis, Sgt Mick (5 December 2013). "Snipers Hit the Mark: Snipers get fired up at SASR concentration in WA". Army (News). Directorate of Defence News. p. 11. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  17. Force, New Zealand Defence (18 October 2017). "Defence Force buying two new weapons".
  18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-05-24. Retrieved 2011-06-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) New Zealand Army official site
  19. Martin (Ed.), Judith (February 2012). "New Light Support Weapon for NZ Defence" (PDF). NZ Army News (428). p. 5. Retrieved 14 May 2012. The New Zealand Defence Force has selected the FN Herstal 7.62mm Minimi TR as a replacement for the 5.56 mm LSW C9, currently in service. The weapons are being acquired now, with NZ delivery due to start from April this year, and introduction to service and issuing to units planned to occur in last quarter of 2012. The 7.62 LSW Minimi will be issued to certain Army and Air Force Units. This will replace the C9 capability, with priority being given to field force units and regional equipment pools.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  20. "Machine Guns". Army.mil.nz. 2008-02-11. Archived from the original on 2012-03-25. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  21. "New Shotguns for Defence" (PDF). NZ Army News. NZ Defence Force. September 2011. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  22. "Heed The Need". NZ Army News. NZ Defence Force. 14 November 2006. Archived from the original on 16 December 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2012. The Army is purchasing a small number of Benelli M3 Tactical shotguns, which are expected to deploy with 1 RNZIR and 2/1 RNZIR soldiers on stability and security-type operations.
  23. "firepower". New Zealand Army. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  24. "Integration of NZDF Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems into New Zealand Civil Airspace" (PDF). Defence Technology Agency. October 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  25. "NZDF has no plans to ground drones banned by US military allies over cyber-safety fears". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  29. "Govt to sell 35 army LAVs". 24 May 2010.
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