New Zealand hosts ANZAC reserves exercise
Nearly 500 New Zealand Army and Australian Army Reserve personnel will gather in Gore this week for 10 days of intensive field training to strengthen combat readiness, leadership, and interoperability in a realistic, demanding operational environment.
FILE PHOTO: New Zealand Army Reserve soldiers embark an a Royal New Zealand Air Force NH-90 as they deploy on exercise. NZDF photo supplied.:
Exercise Tauwharenīkau 2026 is the NZ Army Reserve Force’s premier warfighting exercise, bringing together soldiers from across the country, alongside 50 Australian Army Reserve personnel from 5th Brigade.
Led by the 2nd/4th Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, the exercise will operate from a base near Gore from today until 26 July.
Soldiers may be seen in public, patrolling on foot or in military vehicles, and Royal New Zealand Air Force aircraft including a C-130J Hercules will also transport troops in and out of the Invercargill area, with NH90 helicopters also flying in the area.
Exercise Director Lieutenant Colonel Gareth Seeds said the exercise would be the largest reserve-force-led activity conducted in the South Island in decades.
“Exercise Tauwharenīkau reflects the scale, complexity and uncertainty of the contemporary security environment our soldiers must be prepared to operate in,” Lieutenant Colonel Seeds said.
“It is designed to strengthen combat readiness, enhance interoperability with our Australian counterparts, and ensure our reserve force can integrate rapidly and effectively with the regular force to deliver increased combat capability, force protection, and operational effectiveness.
“We also look forward to further strengthening our longstanding defence relationship with Australia throughout the exercise.
“The Southland region provides an ideal dynamic environment for large-scale field training, enabling soldiers to operate across a variety of terrain and conditions that contribute to realistic military training outcomes.”
Reserve forces provide the New Zealand and Australian Armies with trained personnel who can augment regular-force capability and support domestic responses, security tasks and military operations when required, including infantry, engineers, signallers, medics, dental specialists, mounted capability, combat support, intelligence specialists and uncrewed aerial systems operators.
NZ Army reservists train for a minimum of 20 days each year while balancing their military service with civilian employment, study and family commitments.
In turn, service in the NZ Army develops leadership, teamwork, resilience and decision-making skills that reservists apply in their workplaces and communities.
During the exercise, employers of reserve-force personnel will be invited to visit the operating base, providing an opportunity to gain first-hand insight into the training, leadership development and operational roles undertaken by their employees.
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