Major Waiouru exercise primes NZ Army for international war-fighting exercise

Exercise Phantom Major, held from 19 August to 6 September, involved 17 New Zealand Light Armoured Vehicles (NZLAVs) in a motorised infantry combat team with more than 30 vehicles in total and 190 soldiers.

Major Tony Harris says exercises such as Phantom Major prepare NZ Army soldiers and leaders to perform well on the world stage amongst their peers at all levels of command, and in a wide variety of scenarios.

“Combined arms training activities are important for building confidence for our soldiers and officers as they go onto operations and large-scale exercises on a multi-national level alongside our partners.

“I'm really pleased at the standard of training that the combat team has achieved over the last few weeks. Large exercises like this are critical to maintain the New Zealand Defence Force’s land combat capability to a credible standard so we can work effectively alongside our Australian ally and other international forces.”

There were two scenarios; the first was a peacekeeping role immediately post conflict, followed by responding to the resumption of conflict in the fictional country of North Torbia.

Initially a combat team deployed into the central plateau area to stabilise the area and secure key infrastructure following a ceasefire.

The troops then had to respond to growing insurgency and hostilities resuming.

They used blank ammunition, explosives and simulation equipment to emulate real combat as closely as possible in order to prepare them for the challenges of major and sustained operations in a challenging environment.

Combat support capabilities, including anti-armour, snipers, combat engineers, signals, joint fires and logistics elements, contributed to the exercise.

During Phantom Major, eight senior captains were qualified on the Regular Force Combat Advanced Course, which means they are now able to command a rifle company or a squadron on combat operations.

Phantom Major is an important stepping stone towards Talisman Sabre 2025, which is a significant biennial multi-national exercise led by Australia and the United States, with 19 nations invited, including New Zealand.

It’s designed to test the respective forces in planning and conducting multi-national and multi-service military operations, and aims to improve the combat readiness and ability of different nations to seamlessly work alongside each other.

The 2023 iteration of Talisman Sabre saw more than 30,000 military personnel from 13 nations take part, covering a range of exercises including amphibious landings, ground manoeuvres, air combat and maritime operations.