First NZ frigate returns from upgrade
Overbudget and behind schedule, HMNZS Te Kaha returns from Canada after its midlife upgrade.
HMNZS Te Kaha, representing half the Royal New Zealand Navy’s (RNZN’s) Anzac-class frigate fleet, arrived home to Devonport Naval Base in Auckland on 20 December, after departing the country more than two and a half years earlier.
The vessel has completed its Frigate System Upgrade (FSU), even though this was supposed to have happened by the end of 2019. Prime systems integrator for the work was Lockheed Martin Canada.
The project was conducted at Seaspan Shipyards in Victoria, Canada, after kicking off on 1 May 2018 for the first frigate. The FSU included installation of Lockheed Martin Canada’s CMS 330
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