Results for Defence

Four Tongan Marines competed in the Nevada National Guard international military contest with Pvt. Sione Lonitenisi finishing in second place, last month in Hawthorne, Nevada, USA. The Tongan Marines competed alongside eight Nevada Army National Guard Soldiers for the title of "Best Warrior".

A new patrol boat named Ngahau Koula (Golden Arrow), currently being built in Australia, is expected be handed over to His Majesty’s Armed Forces (HMAF) in June.

King Tupou VI laid a wreath at the Cenotaph, Pangai Lahi, in Nuku'alofa, this morning, for the ANZAC Day Dawn Service. The ceremony marked the 103rd anniversary of the landing of the Australia New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli, Turkey on 25 April 1915, and remembered the 460 Pacific Islander soldiers who served in those armies in 1914-18.

Twisted ankles, severe dehydration, and even a bite from a gigantic Golden Orb Weaver spider were just a few of the maladies a medical team from the Nevada Air Guard treated in Vava'u, during Exercise Tafakula, a biennial, multi-national military exercise hosted by the Kingdom of Tonga in late July. The medics were requested by Tonga to also evaluate medical readiness of HMAF.

A soldier trainer who injured a recruit by burning him with an iron has been court-martialed and kicked out of the Tongan army.

The Vendémiaire, a surveillance frigate of the French Navy from Noumea was in Nuku’alofa this week on a goodwill visit that included conducting joint training exercises with the Tonga Navy and donated french reading books to the French Learning Centre.

An allied effort to combat potential drug trafficking in the South Pacific brought together 10 Tongan and American agencies in Nuku'alofa to exchange the latest information on drug identification as part of the Nevada National Guard / Kingdom of Tonga State Partnership Program between May 9-13.

Major General Peter Kelly, New Zealand Chief of Army, is visiting Tonga this week ahead of a humanitarian and disaster relief exercise ‘Tropic Twilight’ to be led by New Zealand’s Army later this year in Ha’apai, involving defence forces from Tonga, Australia, US, China, Britain, and France.

An $8 million (AUD) navy landing craft, funded by Australia - a new addition to His Majesty's Armed Forces (HMAF), will be commissioned by HM King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau'u this week, on Friday 23 October in Nuku'alofa.