Soldiers' kit shown in official mag

The Defence Force magazine details the kit NZ troops carry. Photo / Supplied

The New Zealand Defence Force has highlighted the new kit for soldiers deployed in Afghanistan less than a week after criticising the media for doing so.

This week's Defence Force magazine 1Force features a soldier on its cover wearing what it calls "the latest battle-tested soldier survivability gear and related equipment".

"The new kit includes an advanced combat helmet, improved body armour, improved hearing protection, ballistic goggles and glasses, individual torch, handheld GPS, enhanced patrol pack, combat gloves, and enhanced modular webbing and pouches," 1Force says.

The magazine acknowledges that New Zealanders are "naturally curious" about the SAS.

"However it is also important to bear in mind that any information released to the public must not compromise the ... security of the unit."

The magazine is available on the Defence Force website.

The Defence Force this week criticised the Herald for running a picture of an SAS man in Kabul and an image highlighting the equipment he was using.

Asked about the inconsistency, a defence spokesman indicated that the issue had been over SAS equipment, not that of other soldiers.

Labour MP David Shearer, who lived in Kabul in 2002 while working for the United Nations, said: "The fact that a couple of photographs turn up in a newspaper doesn't help the Taliban.

"The people we are fighting already know what we doing and what we are there for and what we are wearing."