24349 (2026). Hon Damien O'Connor to the Minister of Defence

24349 (2026). Hon Damien O'Connor to the Minister of Defence: What is the total capital provision, including amounts held in tagged contingency, for the Budget 2025 Defence Investments confirmed in Budget 2026 (which include replacing the New Zealand Defence Force's eight Seasprite helicopters with new maritime helicopters, replacing the two Boeing 757 aircraft, and transforming the Force's data, analytics and information management), and what is the forecast delivery timeline for each, if any?

Hon Chris Penk: More than $2 billion has been budgeted for the maritime helicopter replacement and associate infrastructure and training. Formal discussions are underway with the United States, with a view to the Government making final decisions in 2026. Project costs will be released after final decisions have been made. In August 2025, Cabinet authorised the NZDF to enter into a lease-to-purchase agreement for the delivery of two A321 XLR aircraft to replace the Boeing 757s, with an initial capital cost of $620.526 million and four-year operating funding of $80.855 million. Detailed information about the procurement has been proactively released on the Ministry’s website at https://defence.govt.nz/defence-force-boeing-757-aircraft-replacement/. Work on transforming the Force's data, analytics and information management involves the following projects identified in the 2026/27 Estimates for Vote Defence Force: • Future Enterprise Resource Planning Programme: Programme Implementation Business Case: Prepare Phase. • Information Management Programme - Initial Drawdown for Commencement of Tranche One. Financial details for both are available from the Budget website at https://budget.govt.nz/budget/2026/by/vote/deffor.htm. Details about delivery of the projects are proactively released on the NZDF website at https://nzdf.mil.nz/media-centre/search-our-libraries/documents/ under Future Enterprise Resource Planning: Programme Business Case and New Zealand Defence Force: Information Management Programme.