The strategy prioritises New Zealand firms in procurement rules, among other things.  

New Zealand has announced a new Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) to improve collaboration between the country’s military and industry, a 3 October New Zealand Ministry of Defence (MoD) announcement has revealed. 

The DIS outlines several changes to this relationship, such as the establishment of a new technology accelerator, backed by up to NZD300 million (GBP129 million). 

This will help field new technologies more efficiently, the MoD said, and “provide a pathway to transition advanced platforms from the prototype phase to ‘service ready’ capability”. 

The accelerator will include a portal for companies to present their proposals and capabilities to the MoD, as well as for the military to pitch problem statements to industry. The accelerator will be operational by 2026, the MoD said. 

Also under the DIS, New Zealand will introduce new government procurement rules that require larger defence primes to work more closely with smaller firms based in New Zealand. 

Potential defence contractors will need to “demonstrate how their tender proposals will deliver economic benefits to New Zealand, including by using New Zealand businesses”, the MoD said. 

In a similar vein, the MoD will explore the possibility of using smaller New Zealand companies as ‘thin primes’; essentially, a smaller firm will assume total contract responsibilities for delivering a piece of equipment while sub-contracting the original equipment manufacturers.  

The idea is that this will provide a pathway for smaller suppliers to “move up the value chain” in supporting New Zealand’s defence industry, the MoD said. 

Growing the country’s defence exports and supporting exports into larger markets was also listed as a priority in the DIS, as well as improved engagement and communication with industry through domain forums, sector briefings, and industry days, among other things.  

The DIS will support New Zealand’s Defence Capability Plan, released in April, which outlined NZD12 billion of funding over four years to lift the country’s defence spending to over 2% of GDP. 

More recently, New Zealand unveiled its 2025 government budget in June which allocated NZD4.2 billion (GBP1.86 billion) to defence, with funding prioritising the replacement of two Boeing 757-2K2 aircraft operated by the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the New Zealand Defence Force’s current fleet of eight maritime Seasprite helicopters.