Deadliest warship in Australia's history

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The NZ Army is replacing their infantry mobility vehicles with Australian-made Bushmasters. Soon they'll have to replace their Canadian-made NZLAV III light armoured vehicles too, maybe with LAV 6s like the Canadian army's doing or with German-made Boxers like the Australian army's doing. We'll see.

The Royal NZ Air Force has no combat capability, not least because attacking fighter jets can't realistically reach NZ from anywhere except Australia. NZ also can't afford even a light aircraft carrier, let alone fighter planes for them, to conduct air combat operations overseas. So the RNZAF focuses mainly on transport and surveillance, primarily covering an area from the South Pacific all the way to Antarctica. They've already upgraded their C130H Hercules transport helicopters to the more modern C130J Super Hercules, and they're replacing their old P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft with the more modern and capable P-8 Poseidons (which Australia, the UK and the US are already using). The last thing they'll need to replace are their aging Boeing 757 cargo and VIP transport planes. The new planes will have to be capable of round travel to both the South Pacific and Antarctica (since the US relies partially on NZ to support its Antarctic operations) while fully loaded and ideally without refuelling. Maybe something like the KC-46 Pegasus, or dare I hope the KC-30s that the Royal Australian Air Force are currently using, could fill the role. Then again, they might end up going with a smaller Boeing 737 instead (please not a second-hand one, like the Australian ones that keep breaking down). Shame they never got any Globemasters while they were available.

Where I think there is the most room for increasing capability is the Royal New Zealand Navy. They're already planning to replace their Anzac-class frigates in the mid-2030s, perhaps with up-specced Type 31 general frigates. I'd love to say they'd go for a larger class of ship, like the Type 26 frigates that are being ordered and modified for Canada and Australia, or even a destroyer. But with NZ's military budget they might be better off going for a larger number of mid-sized ships, than say one or two huge ones. Interestingly, the RNZN are already planning to order two new landing platform docks by then as well. These will greatly increase their capability in conducting humanitarian aid missions, and with deploying army personnel and equipment overseas. They'll also need to replace their offshore patrol vessels by then, and at least one will need to have ice strengthening added to perform patrols in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica.