Photo By Diana Nesukh | In April 2025, warriors from the 171st, 193rd, and 142nd U.S. Air National Guard Fire...... read more read more
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In a first-of-its-kind bilateral exercise, U.S. Air Force Air National Guard and Royal New Zealand Air Force Aviation Rescue Firefighters participated in Exercise Southern Steel, a high-octane exercise focused on enhancing emergency response interoperability and the Five Eyes alliance. The twelve-day joint training exercise took place at Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Auckland and the Mount Wellington Fire and Emergency New Zealand Region One Training Centre in April 2025.
Over the course of the exercise, warriors from the 171st, 193rd, and 142nd U.S. Air National Guard Fire & Emergency Services units trained alongside their Royal New Zealand Air Force counterparts in a series of scenario-based drills. But this was no drill. Exercise Southern Steel was a purpose-built mission to expose and eliminate real capability gaps in future combined emergency responses. Initiated after the 171st F&ES asked how they could “make a mark” in the Air Force fire community, the effort quickly evolved into a fully integrated operation, supported by Headquarters Air Force, Pacific Air Forces, the National Guard Bureau, and the broader Five Eyes alliance.
“This was truly a total force event,” said Tech. Sgt. Robert J. Gregor III, 171st Civil Engineer Squadron, USAF Air National Guard. “We were able to not only exercise our expected emergency response skills but also mobilize a team of forty responders and all their equipment and move them all the way around the world without a single hiccup.”
Though often associated with intelligence cooperation, the Five Eyes alliance—comprising the United States, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada—also provides a framework for operational integration in areas such as emergency response, logistics, and security. Exercises like Exercise Southern Steel are a reflection of the alliance's broader commitment to a rules-based international order, offering practical avenues for partners to align capabilities, build trust, and ensure that when cooperation is required, there is a foundation of shared readiness and mutual understanding already in place.
“It’s a real honor to be down here executing the mission as the aircraft commander,” said Captain Max Vickerman, 167th Airlift Wing, West Virginia National Guard. “I know my crew is very honored as well."
According to Senior Master Sgt. Jesse Marshall, F&ES program manager, Protection Services Division at Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center Detachment 2, “The primary objectives of Exercise Southern Steel are to enhance Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting interoperability, standardize Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures, and strengthen joint deployment capabilities.” He explained that the lessons learned in this exercise are fueling a coalition-wide playbook that will improve coordination and effectiveness to ensure FVEY Airpower is always ready.
To achieve those aims, participants engaged in an intensive training program covering a wide spectrum of emergency response disciplines. The curriculum followed a “crawl, walk, run” methodology, with each phase building upon the last. From Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus drills and high-angle rope work to live-fire aircraft scenarios and confined space rescue drills, every evolution was designed to reflect real-world conditions while reinforcing safety and shared tactical knowledge.
RNZAF Squadron Leader Stephen Crawford, a Joint Enablers Staff Officer, underscored the value of the exercise as a dual mechanism for comparison and collaboration. “This is a great opportunity to bring together the U.S. Air Force and New Zealand Air Force, compare our firefighting trades, equipment, capabilities, and training, see what’s the same, what’s different, and how we can work together in the future,” SQNLDR Crawford asserted. “When we do need to operate together anywhere in the world, we’ll understand each other. We’re really excited about this and where it might lead.”
RNZAF Warrant Officer Tim Hunt further emphasized the importance of understanding each other’s approaches to emergency response, expressing, “Most of the exercise was crawl/walk in order to understand each other’s TTPs and the differences in how we operate and work with each other’s capabilities.” He noted that while the teams used different methods, they ultimately achieved the same goal, responding effectively together in joint scenarios. “Just understanding the different TTP requirements and realizing that the end product of putting ‘wet stuff on the hot stuff’ was the same in order to be effective during an ARFF incident response.”
The collaborative spirit became a defining theme throughout the exercise. With equipment, terminology, and tactical norms differing across services, challenges were inevitable. But rather than serve as barriers, these differences sparked dialogue, innovation, and lasting connections. As W/O Hunt reflected, “The exercise proved there’s a hollowness when operating within each other’s TTPs. Understanding that has allowed both ARFF [teams] to understand those areas of deficiencies.”
“Our strongest token of genuine friendship is sending emergency service members in a partner nation’s time of need,” Gregor added. “What better way to show you care for a people than to rapidly mobilize and deploy responders to a friend in a desperate moment?”
According to Marshall, the success of the exercise extended beyond tactics and training hours. “The hope is to continue building on the momentum of Exercise Southern Steel by expanding joint training opportunities, integrating lessons learned into future exercises, and further refining interoperability between U.S. and New Zealand F&ES teams. This partnership aims to enhance nations’ ability to respond to emergencies in the Indo-Pacific theater effectively.”
The strategic implications are clear. In an increasingly interconnected theater, the ability to operate seamlessly alongside allies is not a luxury, it’s a necessity and force multiplier. Exercises like Exercise Southern Steel demonstrate what can be achieved when forces align not just in mission, but in mindset.
“We cannot stress how important it is to be able to show up and execute,” said Gregor. “Allowing USAF emergency service members the opportunity to experience and navigate the cultural differences, equipment differences, along with the different expectations, is an invaluable opportunity that cannot be overstated.”
As the final hose lines were rolled up and farewell handshakes exchanged, what remained was more than just a record of completed drills. Exercise Southern Steel strengthened a partnership built on trust, professionalism, and a shared commitment to service. It laid groundwork for future collaboration and left participating forces better prepared to operate decisively, together.
| Date Taken: | 06.09.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.09.2025 12:05 |
| Story ID: | 500054 |
| Location: | NZ |
| Web Views: | 69 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Exercise Southern Steel Fans Flames of U.S.-RNZAF Military Partnership, by Alexandra Broughton, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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