In 2015 Cabinet approved funding of $28 million to replace the existing Pinzgauer Special Operations fleet with four different types of vehicles to ensure the Special Forces can continue to meet all their operational requirements.
The Pinzgauer Special Operations vehicles began service in 2005, and since then they have seen extensive service. This experience, combined with the demands of contemporary missions and equipment, has led to the need to replace the Pinzgauers with a range of more modern vehicles.
The first new vehicle type that will be bought by the Ministry of Defence for the New Zealand Defence Force is the Supacat Extenda high mobility vehicle, which will be provided by Supacat Australia.
The Defence White Paper 2016 noted that New Zealand’s Special Operations Forces need to be trained and equipped to deploy across a range of operations, from long-range reconnaissance to domestic counter-terrorism and explosive ordinance disposal.
The new vehicles will be delivered in the final quarter of 2017. Supacat will also be responsible for maintaining the new vehicle fleet.
Work continues on identifying a number of other vehicles suitable for a range of possible operations for the SAS as part of this project.