Skilled soldiers from New Zealand and overseas will deploy to Tonga later this month, to assist local communities with various projects and help increase their resilience to natural disasters during Exercise Tropic Twilight.

The annual South Pacific exercise "Exercise Tropic Twilight" is funded by NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), and will be hosted in Tonga this year, NZ Defence Army reported.

This is the second year in a row the Exercise Tropic Twilight will be held in Tonga.

Sixty NZ soldiers will be joined by ten army personnel from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Japan and New Caledonia.

Officer Commanding 25 Engineer Support Squadron Major James Brosnan said those involved in the overseas deployment will embrace diversity and utilise their strengths to move forward as one unit and achieve their objectives. “This is about supporting the Kingdom of Tonga, building disaster resilience, enhancing stability in the region and reiterating that we are all trusted partners within the Pacific.”

“By ourselves, we wouldn’t be able to achieve all the goals, so the participation of the other countries cannot be understated."

“It also creates an opportunity to make new friends, increase our ability to operate together and be exposed to different perspectives and methods to achieve a mission.”

Lifuka island

NZ Army engineers will head to the island of Lifuka to help increase resilience to natural disasters.

A unit of defence health personnel will also be deployed to the island to hold community dental clinics.

Over seven weeks, the engineer troop will focus on renovations and upgrades to the Ha’ateiho Community Centre to ensure the community has a safe place to shelter during or after cyclones.

The troops will also makes repairs to the Koulo Meteorological Station and upgrade facilities at two local schools.

“We are looking forward to the challenge of projecting and sustaining a force on a remote island group within Tonga and the Pacific,” Major Brosnan said.

“It will really test the NZDF’s ability to plan, communicate, coordinate, execute and respond to developing situations – all essential elements of being a highly trained and deployable force. Similar problems we could experience in New Zealand, which could be easily fixed with a phone call or ducking down to the local vendor, will take innovative and collaborative solutions in order to achieve our tasks."

NZDF stated that personnel will complete a number of activities including a trade skills competition, before coming to Tonga later this month.