NZ Army talking with US about regular training on Kiwi soil
Saturday, 9 August 2025
The New Zealand Army is talking with its United States counterparts about having American troops train regularly on Kiwi soil.
US Army Pacific General Ronald P Clark visited New Zealand last month, meeting senior New Zealand defence staff in Wellington and flying over the army’s training ground at Waiouru.
Chief of Army Major General Rose King, in an interview with The Post, said the pair discussed possible training opportunities between the two armies, and on the table was a regular exercise.
“We took the opportunity to go to Waiouru, show him the capability of our training area, and look at what opportunities there might be for continuous training with them, or for them to send forces here to train.
“I think it’d be fair to say that there’s interest.”
New Zealand is not a formal defence ally of the US. However, US troops train in New Zealand on an ad hoc basis, and New Zealand personnel also travel to the US for training.
The two country’s militaries also participate together in large multi-national exercises such as Rimpac, held in Hawai’i, and Talisman Sabre, which concluded in Australia last month.
The consideration of regular US military training in New Zealand demonstrates that, despite difficulty in the political relationship with US President Donald Trump’s administration, which imposed 15% tariffs of New Zealand goods this week, the Government continues to pursue deeper strategic ties with the US.
King said the conversation about regular training was at an initial stage. Separate to this, there was discussion about having US soldiers train in New Zealand in the coming 12 to 18 months.
“What we're just working through is, what is the win-win for both of us? And how do we take that forward?”
She said Waiouru was a unique environment that required resilience of soldiers and, for all armies, training in new environments was valuable for putting pressure on commanders.
Clark, a four-star general who commands the largest US theatre army, with more than 107,000 soldiers and civilians, visited New Zealand after travelling to the Talisman Sabre exercise in Australia.
King said it was an opportunity to share views on the strategic environment and have “honest conversations” that were important for military partners.
“How do we collectively look to address some of the security issues within our area for that ultimate aim of peace, right? That's what we that's what we all strive for.”
That Clark visited for a number of days showed the military relatonship was “in a good position”.
“I would argue that the relationships are stronger now than they have been.”
She said New Zealand and the US saw the strategic environment in the same way, at a military-to-military level.
This included the US view on China being a challenge in the region.
“If you read our policy documents, and it is very clear that the environment we’re in is very dynamic, and that includes whether it's climate change, whether it's great power competition, which is, you know, America and China.
“Threats come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes, and my role is to make sure that we're prepared to meet those threats, as required by our Government.”
She said the German army chief had also visited Wellington after travelling to Talisman Sabre.