New Zealand Defence Minister Judith Collins wants her country to develop lethal weapons for export with the help of technology companies.
The Defence Industry Strategy involves plans to boost defence business and encourage technology companies to branch out into military technology .
Collins said she would allow the New Zealand Defence Force (Defence) to partner with New Zealand’s advanced technology sector but also create technology that could be exported.
"Defence is a great way through for that and if New Zealand Defence Force can help them to do that, that's really important because it's harder for our New Zealand Defence tech businesses to be able to sell into overseas markets like Australia or the UK if they don't have a New Zealand Defence Force brand on them as well,” she said.
Collins also said it would be “irresponsible” for New Zealand not to catch up and manufacture lethal weapons.
“When the world around us is changing at such a pace, we need to change our approach to how we equip our Defence Force, and we need to work in partnership with industry to be better together,” she said.
The New Zealand Government will introduce a new NZ$100 million to NZ$300 million fund to develop advanced technologies for military use by the defence force.
Despite the fact that New Zealand’s defence industrial base has at least 800 suppliers, most of its significant purchases are sourced from multinational suppliers.
“We have the talent and the will. We now need to build the supports and clear the way for innovation,” Collins said.
The strategy includes presenting a new Defence Capability Plan every two years, with the next plan due in 2027.
This comes after the Government said it would boost defence spending by NZ$9 billion (US$5 billion) over the next four years and aim to nearly double spending to 2% of gross domestic product in the next eight years due to growing concern about strategic competition.
