1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,520
Speaker 1: It's a big day for defense, of course, is the

2
00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:03,760
Speaker 1: heavyweight money is laid out for new planes and choppers.

3
00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:05,800
Speaker 1: The big bill for the five Seahawks complete with the

4
00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:08,479
Speaker 1: anti sub torpedoes. They come in at two point seven billion.

5
00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:10,200
Speaker 1: That then we got the two long range ybus A

6
00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,560
Speaker 1: three twenty one's herebyas Marshall Darren Webby's the boss of

7
00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:15,720
Speaker 1: the Royal New Zealand Air Force news with us. Good morning,

8
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:17,560
Speaker 1: Good morning do you Mike, as far as you're concerned,

9
00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:19,880
Speaker 1: is this Christmas or something close to it?

10
00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,160
Speaker 2: While at the great Day for Defense, and we're extremely

11
00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:25,959
Speaker 2: excited with the announcements of the new aircraft types for

12
00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:28,040
Speaker 2: both the Air Force and the Navy, that's for sure.

13
00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,320
Speaker 1: How different will life be with this new equipment.

14
00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,560
Speaker 2: Well, having the right tools to do your job safely

15
00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,159
Speaker 2: and effectively is hugely important for our people and so

16
00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:40,279
Speaker 2: it's going to be a big game changer for us.

17
00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:43,320
Speaker 1: Do you specifically get involved in what was needed and

18
00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,120
Speaker 1: how many of them and what they cost and where

19
00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:46,040
Speaker 1: we buy them from or not.

20
00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:49,199
Speaker 2: It's a complex business and that's certainly left to the

21
00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:54,400
Speaker 2: capability acquisition teams. I'm a capability owner, so once I've

22
00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,600
Speaker 2: gone through all those decisions. I'm the lucky recipient of

23
00:00:57,600 --> 00:00:59,720
Speaker 2: that capability and get it to use it in service.

24
00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,400
Speaker 1: You would argue you'd need more of everything though, basically,

25
00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:03,520
Speaker 1: wouldn't you? In general?

26
00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:06,800
Speaker 2: Well, I think five new chopters is a really good

27
00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,360
Speaker 2: place to start, and the team up at six Squadron

28
00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:11,880
Speaker 2: and finelp I are really excited to get their hands

29
00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:13,440
Speaker 2: on them as soon as they can. And of course

30
00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,440
Speaker 2: the new A through twenty on XLA will be a

31
00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:18,759
Speaker 2: really nice change up from the seven five seven.

32
00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:21,680
Speaker 1: So these planes and choppers, if you're driving the bring

33
00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:24,600
Speaker 1: it back to domestic stuff. If you're driving a Yarus,

34
00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:26,840
Speaker 1: a Toyota Yaris, what if you trade it up to.

35
00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,160
Speaker 2: Well, the Seahawk is a state of the combat capable machine.

36
00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,399
Speaker 2: It has advanced systems on bed, advanced eyes and ears

37
00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,920
Speaker 2: if you like to detect, to then target, track and

38
00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:43,080
Speaker 2: if necessary, prosecute targets both on the surface and also subsurface.

39
00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,840
Speaker 2: And so in what is an increasingly complex world out there,

40
00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:49,080
Speaker 2: that is the tool to do the job right.

41
00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,560
Speaker 1: And what about the A three twenty ones.

42
00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:54,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, the A three twenty one. This is a commercial

43
00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,320
Speaker 2: off the shelf solution for us. We're trying to keep

44
00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:58,840
Speaker 2: it as straightforward and as simple as we possibly can.

45
00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,960
Speaker 2: It is. It is the longest range single aisle twenty

46
00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,760
Speaker 2: aircraft in the market, and so for a country like

47
00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:07,920
Speaker 2: New Zealand which is a long way from anywhere, yea,

48
00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,000
Speaker 2: that's a real value to us. For example, it can

49
00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,840
Speaker 2: get us down to Antarctica with no point of safe return,

50
00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:17,960
Speaker 2: and having flown there many times myself. The comfort that

51
00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:20,320
Speaker 2: comes with that for the Krean for the passengers is

52
00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:21,480
Speaker 2: going to be really important.

53
00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:23,400
Speaker 1: And these are good for how long? The planes and

54
00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:24,440
Speaker 1: chop is are good for how long?

55
00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:24,680
Speaker 2: Ten?

56
00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:25,440
Speaker 1: Twenty thirty?

57
00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:29,720
Speaker 2: Listen, we always get more out of our assets than most,

58
00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:31,639
Speaker 2: but I think a good number to start with will

59
00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:33,720
Speaker 2: be something like thirty year our service life.

60
00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,520
Speaker 1: Wow does this help recruitment? If I thought of joining

61
00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,360
Speaker 1: the Air Force, seeing one of those choppers surely makes

62
00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:40,680
Speaker 1: it more appealing to me.

63
00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:43,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it does. I think you can censor

64
00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:46,959
Speaker 2: it's palpable. Morale lifts when we have new equipment and

65
00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:49,880
Speaker 2: our people are experts at getting the most out of them.

66
00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:52,560
Speaker 1: Good stuff. Darren, appreciate it. Darren Webb, who's the Airbust

67
00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:55,520
Speaker 1: Marshal of the Royal newsand Air Force. For more from

68
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,639
Speaker 1: the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks that'd

69
00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:01,760
Speaker 1: be from six am we or follow the podcast on

70
00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:02,560
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio