The United Kingdom and New Zealand have announced plans to deepen their defence, security, and economic partnerships following a meeting between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in England on 21 April.
According to a statement from the UK Government, the two leaders visited Operation Interflex, where British and New Zealand forces are jointly training Ukrainian troops. New Zealand has contributed to training more than 54,000 Ukrainian soldiers and is expected to confirm an extension of their involvement until the end of 2025.
Prime Minister Starmer praised the partnership, stating: “From the beaches of Gallipoli, to the vital work we have been doing together on Operation Interflex and our support for Ukraine, the UK and New Zealand have stood shoulder-to-shoulder for generations in pursuit of peace and stability.”
The leaders also agreed to intensify military cooperation, with instructions given to defence ministers to draft a new joint defence partnership to succeed the previous agreement from 2015. This follows increases in defence spending by both nations — the UK to 2.5% of GDP and New Zealand to 2%. A notable step in this new collaboration will see the Royal New Zealand Navy’s frigate HMNZS Te Kaha join the UK Carrier Strike Group in the Indian Ocean as it begins its Indo-Pacific deployment.
In addition, Prime Minister Starmer announced a £30 million contract for drones from New Zealand firm SYOS Aerospace to support Ukraine, creating 45 jobs at a facility in Fareham, Hampshire. The move, Starmer said, reflects the government’s Plan for Change, aimed at “putting money back in the pockets of working people through highly skilled jobs, a strong and resilient economy, and greater opportunity.”
Beyond defence, economic collaboration was a key focus. The leaders committed to expanding free and open trade, particularly through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the UK-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. According to the government, bilateral trade in goods and services between the two nations reached £3.6 billion in the year to September 2024, up 5.3% from the previous year.
The press release also highlighted recent commercial successes, including Scottish firm Emergency One winning a contract to supply emergency vehicles to Fire and Emergency New Zealand, supporting 25 jobs in Scotland, and a new investor partnership to boost agricultural technology development.
Prime Minister Starmer concluded: “As the world becomes an increasingly dangerous place, I am proud how much we are doing together to support our national and economic security – stepping up our defence spending, deploying our navies together in the Indo-Pacific, and continuing our work to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position to deter an increasingly aggressive Russia.”
I wonder if they would be interested in the T31 in the future – assuming T26 is out of their reach but if their new budget allows it then it would make sense to share a platform with Australia.
As much as it would be fantastic for us to sell them a pair (potentially also help us pave the way for a joint order for more with them as they’d have to built here) it just wouldn’t make much sense for the RNZN. As part of their new defense splurge they want to increase interoperability with Australia across all domains and turn the New Zealand armed forces into a force multiplier for Australia as opposed to an independent fighting force, Australia will be introducing a new class of light frigate to bolster their total hull numbers in the next decade and whatever class Aus buys will likely end up being what NZ.
We still have other opportunities to sell the NZDF British weapons. One of the biggest capability overhauls they are focusing on is long range strike and ASW using the P-8 and future combat helicopters. HMA2 Wildcat has already had to industry engagement as a potential procurement for NZ which would also pave the way for Martlet (they also want ground based CUAS weaponry which would make LMM even more appealing if a common stock could used in their future helicopter as well) and SEA Venom to replace the current Penguin missiles. Their P-8s could take Stingray and follow suit with us and Norway and again could also be used on a potential Wildcat purchase as well.
Mostly speculation on the last part but , I wouldn’t get your hopes up about T-31 export to NZ.
goo to see another forgotten commonwealth country returning to the front page a loyal and trustworthy friend who is not considered as a naval power at all. historically they consistently produce good sailors and perform well with other tiered nations
goo to see another forgotten commonwealth country returning to the front page a loyal and trustworthy friend who is not considered as a naval power at all. historically they consistently produce good sailors and perform well with other tiered nations the kiwis should have been given Monmouth and montrose.we didn’t want them if NNZhad, I’d have been more than happy to see it done
NZ doesn’t have to choose the same frigate as the RAN and the light frigate mayn’t be right for them neither or the timing of it or the manufacturing of it. NZ may want to maximise its input and systems choice from day one. Hope it’s a win win for both UK and NZ and that the Wildcat gets up and its associated missiles and torpedos.
This may soind a bit nutty, bit if Australia wants more ships more initial why not a split 5/6 buy of different types? On type for West -North East -North?
*sorry for the typos there.
Good point on common operating surface platforms with AU, makes complete sense. However, touting Wildcat as a replacement for the Seasprite goes against the principle of conman operating platforms when the AU navy flying around in MH-60 Seahawks. Talking to some people in NZ recently and their preference is Seahawk.
In saying that global politics may play a big part with many countries now looking for ITAR free systems, not sure if Wildcat is ITAR free but would certainly be more so than a MH-60.
Just my humble opinion!
Hasn’t there already been a Babcock presentation of the A140 to NZ a while back? So it might still have a chance. A pair of A140s are being built by Indonesia too, but not sure if anything can be gained by that with co-manufacturing.