SAS go in to secure airfield

By Greg Ansley

With our troops


DARWIN - New Zealand SAS troops helped to spearhead the United Nations drive into East Timor yesterday.

Flying out of Tindal Air Force base, south of Darwin, in a dawn operation with Australian SAS units, the New Zealanders helped to secure Dili airfield for more than 2000 soldiers following in a huge air and sea-lift.

Hundreds of troops in the first wave of peacekeepers into Dili were flown in by RNZAF Hercules aircraft operating out of Tindal, and Townsville in north Queensland.

The opening gambit in the operation was hardly dramatic. Some of the first troops to arrive were warmly greeted by Indonesian soldiers.

The two sides traded handshakes and stood around casually discussing their firepower.

Last night, a company from the Army's Linton-based 1 Battalion arrived by RNZAF Boeing 727 at Darwin as the vanguard of what may become a battalion-sized group of about 700, if Australia asks for more.

The soldiers will spend several days training in the high-humidity, 32deg heat of Robertson Barracks outside Darwin before moving on to Timor.

The delay is necessary to acclimatise the troops to the extreme conditions they will face in what is planned as a deployment of up to 18 months.

"This is not the Manawatu," said Major Bede Fahey, part of the New Zealand advance unit in Darwin.

New Zealanders attached to the UN as military liaison officers also began moving back to Timor yesterday, following their evacuation at the height of militia violence.

The Army's senior officer in Darwin, Colonel Martyn Dunn, met Australian Prime Minister John Howard before also leaving for Dili yesterday.

The operation is fully testing the ability of the New Zealand Defence Force to equip and deploy a large force overseas at very short notice.

The two Hercules flying between Australia and Timor are running an exhausting shuttle, made more difficult by the limitations of the Dili airstrip, which can land only one plane at a time.

Two other Hercules will also operate non-stop, 24-hour flights across the Tasman, moving troops first, followed by armour, Iroquois helicopters and 30 newly purchased four-wheel-drive vehicles.

The Air Force will fly in the first urgently needed armoured personnel carriers, with the others of the 25 upgraded for Bosnia following later on chartered ships.

On the ground, the first company of New Zealanders will operate as part of an Anzac battalion.

If the New Zealand force is later expanded, it will operate as a separate national battalion.