Money woes clip wings of Skyhawks

By FRANCESCA MOLD and NZPA

Money worries have forced defence chiefs to slash the flying hours of Skyhawk jets to a level that means they could take up to six months to be made ready for military action.

The chief of the Defence Force, Air Marshal Carey Adamson, said yesterday the force had been under severe financial strain for some time.

He said the air combat fleet, which consists of 18 Skyhawks, had been forced to operate at the "basic" level of capability - one step short of taking them out of service.

A Defence Force document describes this level as the minimum at which military capabilities have to be held if they are not to be lost.

Prime Minister Helen Clark confirmed the defence force's financial woes yesterday, saying it had experienced "very serious cost escalations," mainly because of increased fuel prices and the low New Zealand dollar.

If the Defence Force had not made cutbacks, there would have been a "budget blowout."

The Air Force was given $233 million this year to fly its Skyhawks for 4425 hours.

This was to enable 10 aircraft to be available for deployment on military tasks from New Zealand and another six to be stationed in Australia, providing air defence training for the Australian Navy.

A senior Defence Force official said the strike wing was just being kept going until next year's expiry of an agreement with Australia, under which the Air Force provided six Skyhawks to fly attack exercises against Australian warships.

One of those aircraft was lost two weeks ago when Squadron Leader Murray Neilson crashed and died.

It will be replaced by one of the 13 Skyhawks at Ohakea base in Manawatu.

The future of the Air Force's combat capability has been in the balance for a year since the Government cancelled a deal to lease 28 F-16 jets from the United States.

Maintenance of the Skyhawks, some of which are 34 years old, was cut in anticipation of their replacement, and has not been restored. There has also been a steady loss of pilots who see no future for themselves in the Air Force.

National's defence spokesman, Max Bradford, yesterday said the Government was starving the force into the ground.

Returned Services Association defence spokesman retired Marshal Robin Klitscher said the latest move was deeply regrettable but unsurprising.

He said the Government had made it clear it disliked the idea of retaining a strike capability, but had not explained why the country should do without it.