Constructive Training New Zealand Defence Force Mission Command Training School (SUMAN) in the region’s longest standing multilateral security arrangement. Established in 1971, the alliance has a per ma - nent headquarters and undertakes regular exercises and meetings at political and military levels. “It is in all of our interests to ensure we are able to work effec tively together as a single group should the need arise,” explained Lieutenant Colonel Peter Conroy, commander of the Australian contingent at the recent SUMAN Warrior exercise. The SUMAN Warrior exercise is an annual Command Post Exercise (CPX) that is hosted by a different FPDA member each year. Last year, the exercise was hosted by the New Zealand Army and ran by HQ 1 (NZ) Brigade from Linton Camp. The New Zealand Army last hosted the exercise in 2007 when it used JSAF for the constructive training element of the exercise. This latest exercise saw New Zealand’s north island used as a The New Zealand Army has nearly 4,300 regular soldiers and fictional landmass that was populated by two states, Alpira and 1,800 reservists the majority of which form 1 (NZ) Brigade with Bekara. Following conflict between the two states, Bekara its HQ at Linton Camp. requested intervention from the FPDA brigade to restore peace (Source: NZDF) and stability. Each contingent provided a Combat Team HQ with ormed in December 2012 to replace the Army Simulation the NZ Army also providing combat support assets and the HQ Centre, the Mission Command Training School element. In all, 180 personnel took part in the exercise. (MCTS) is responsible for managing and implementing the simu lation capability of the New Zealand Army. This task Each FPDA contingent was provided with the NZ Army’s Fencompasses individual and collective training; operational MATUA Command and Control (C2) system. This system fea tures sup port; as well as, experimentation, force development & Systematic’s SitaWare software to provide a common operating analysis. MCTS’ responsibilities include live, virtual and picture. constructive training. The organisation has its headquarters at Linton Military Camp at Palmerston North on the north island The size of the New Zealand Army means that manpower to run and is responsible for two further MCTS groups that are located exercises and provide training is always at a premium. In many at Waiouru and Burnham. ways, this factor is one of the drivers as to how the Army With a population of around 4.5 million, New Zealand spends approximately 1.13% of its GDP on defence. Its army compris es nearly 4,300 full-time personnel that are supported by 1,800 reservists. In terms of its force structure, the New Zealand Army has one cavalry regiment, one combat engineer regiment, one field artillery regiment and two light infantry battalions that are supported by two combat services support battalions and one medical battal ion. Central to the nation’s defence policy is the Commonwealth Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) which brings together Singapore, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand The recent SUMAN Warrior exercise was the first time that the NZ Army had used SWORD on a major CPX (Source: MCTS) Page 18. MT&SN Vol. 17 Issue 1 2015 had undergone this e-learning phase they attended two half-day periods for hands-on training. Training to the same level would have taken at least a full week with OneSAF,” explained Huston. Prior to the exercise, the NZ Army had been using SWORD for less than a year. “Using the SWORD simulation system we have made part- time personnel savings of about 50% and significant savings in the amount of computer hardware needed to support this activity,” said Major Michael Chivers, Chief Instructor at MCTS. “It has also enabled us to complete training activity in hours which previously had taken weeks. The simplicity of constructing scenarios, its ability to integrate the GIS information and its rich graphical interface make it a very easy tool to work with, recognising that manpower and computer power required are kept to a mini mum.” As well as the NZ Army, SUMAN Warrior drew together participants from the Singapore, UK, Malaysia and Australia. The other key benefit afforded by SWORD is that it is (Source: MCTS) compatible with SitaWare which, according to Chivers, is “due to the standards-based approach of SWORD and the C2 pro cures its training systems; simplicity, efficiency and ease of system.” operation are always to the fore. Over the coming months, MCTS is going to be exceptionally This efficiency factor was one of the main reasons that the busy conducting SWORD-based CPXs. Scheduled to take place NZ Army has replaced its older JANUS, JSAF and OneSAF later this year, Exercise Southern Katipo will involve New constructive training systems with the MASA’s SWORD system. Zealand’s Joint Force HQ whilst numerous other unit and for mation level exercises are also planned. “In 2007 we ran SUMAN Warrior with 55 staff, 45 of which were casual interactors on the exercise,” said Colin Huston, “The time and resources required to plan and conduct CPXs are MCTS’ Executive Officer. “These casual interactors had to now much reduced,” stated Colin Huston. “This means that we have a two-week training course before the exercise took can conduct more exercises and improve our training and place and each of the five contingents required five terminals readi ness accordingly.” plus additional terminals for divisional and brigade assets as well as for the OPFOR assets. “This network took a week to set-up and test prior to the exercise. In comparison, SUMAN Warrior 2014 required just 15 terminals and required just eight casual interactors to assist the contingent staff.” In terms of training, MCTS’ Shelley Gillespie developed an e-learning package to train new users in the oper ation of SWORD. Once players According to MCTS, the adoption of SWORD has meant that considerably fewer training hours are required to prepare staff to conduct the exercise than with previous training systems. (Source: NZ Army) For the Latest News go to www.twpltd.com MT&SN Vol. 17 Issue 1 2015 Page 19..