well dave, how bout you tell us about the upgrades that the hercs, p3's, and hueys have had. finding it hard to think of anything?
i dont think that the issue most rnzaf people had with the retirement of the strike force was that they were losing a nice shiny toy that was fun to fly. i think the dissappointment was in the fact that the nzdf was losing a capability and that through this the nz govt was effectively wimping out of their international responsibility. previous posts have referred to the environment in which nz resides and the requirement to play some part in the defence of the region.
the govt promised that the money that would be saved from the retirement of the strike force would be put back into the rest of the nzdf. this hasnt happened, and is i believe the greatest issue. if the labour govt had done as promised then the nzdf would have p3's with a fully updated back end. the hercs would have been replaced or at least sent for a major upgrade to replace many components that need to be brought up to modern standards. the navy would have another frigate. if these and all the other promises had been delivered on then i think that there would be much less criticism of nz as they would still be upholding their committment to the region. but they haven't. nz now stands as the dole bludger of the region, looking to others to provide the security that is sorely needed in an unstable part of the world.