NZ joins new group that 'might be answer' to US exhausting weapons in a war
New Zealand has joined a new United States-led Indo-Pacific group that "directly supports" America's national industrial defence strategy to boost "warfighting" capabilities.
The US says the new Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience is about "better integrating our defence industries".
The 13-country group was set up in June and had its first meeting, hosted by the US military, in Honolulu in October.
However, US reports show it has four workstreams that include help to co-produce hypersonic and other missiles with Japan and Australia, and drones with Korea, and fix US Navy ships at shipyards in Asia.
In local briefings, officials told Collins and Foreign Minister Winston Peters that the New Zealand Defence Force wanted to help in the workstream on improving military supply chains. Collins has agreed.