700 jobs axed in fighter force cut

The Air Force fighter wing is being sacrificed at the cost of 700 jobs to boost the Army and Navy in the most significant defence policy shift since the anti-nuclear Anzus rift of the 1980s.

The jobs will go when the Skyhawks and Aermacchi jet trainers become surplus to requirements at the end of the year.

The decision was denounced as a betrayal by angry air crews at Ohakea and the Government is braced for fallout from Australia and the United States.

The move to scrap the fighter wing will save $400 million over the next five years and $870 million over 10 years.

More Air Force money might be saved by closing one of the bases, probably Whenuapai in northwest Auckland, not Ohakea near Palmerston North, say official papers released yesterday.

But in the same papers, the Air Force warned the Government the impact of its decisions may be so enormous that there may not be enough staff to sustain the remaining force elements, the Hercules and Orions.

Crew based at Ohakea yesterday were bitterly angry, saying they felt betrayed.

Some of the 700 jobs to disappear, such as armourers, may be redeployed in the other services.

But many with specialist skills, including pilots, are planning to head to Australia.

The air combat force will be out of business by the end of the year: 13 Skyhawks and 17 Aermacchi training jets in Ohakea and four Skyhawks based in Nowra, New South Wales, Australia.

The savings will be ploughed back into the defence forces.

But exactly what the savings will be spent on will hinge largely on a number of decisions to be made before the end of next year.

Decisions outstanding include what will replace the frigate Canterbury when it is retired in 2005, whether the Iroquois helicopter fleet of 14 and the Hercules will be upgraded or replaced and whether the six Orion surveillance craft will be equipped with missile capability.

The Army got its good news last year: new armoured vehicles, light operational vehicles and hand-held radios.

National leader Jenny Shipley said she would restore air strike capability and attacked the move as isolationist and "the bludger's option."

Prime Minister Helen Clark said her strategy "was the very opposite of being isolationist."

"Is the difference between being a bludger and not being a bludger whether you have 17 clapped-out Skyhawks?"

Official papers yesterday advised that the news would not be welcome in Washington and would reduce New Zealand's effectiveness in the Five Power Defence Arrangement with Britain, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

But it says Australia's reaction would depend on what other defence decisions were taken.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard yesterday maintained the line that New Zealand's defence was a matter for New Zealand.

But he warned: "Every time a country takes a decision about the size or readiness of its defence force, that decision has both domestic and international consequences."

Opposition leader and former Defence Minister Kim Beazley, who is increasingly likely to replace Mr Howard this year, said hard work would be needed on the transtasman defence relationship.

"The job of the Australian Government, as it was my job once, is to keep in constant dialogue with New Zealand to make sure we have that capability for doing things effectively together.

"I see nothing that suggests that won't be a continuing challenge for me if I get the top job."

Helen Clark strongly hinted that Ohakea would survive if one base had to close. It will receive a $20 million runway upgrade. And there is the possibility it could become a commercial cargo base for the lower North Island, given that Wellington cannot take 747s.

"The immediate case for Ohakea as a military air field is very, very strong."

The chief of Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal Don Hamilton, put a brave face on the news at Ohakea yesterday, where he addressed staff.

He said although the Air Force had lost one of its roles it would continue to work with professionalism, integrity and teamwork.

"These decisions are what the Government is for. Our role is to provide advice and that has been done very comprehensively."