Wayne Mapp

Wellington, June 5 NZPA - The air force could not take part in two overseas exercises this year because it didn't have enough planes, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp has confirmed.

Operational requirements were paramount and delays in upgrading work on Hercules C130 and Orion aircraft meant there were none to spare for exercise Maple Leaf in Canada and exercise Green Flag in the United States, he said today.

"This really goes back to the C130 upgrade contract," he said on Radio New Zealand.

"There have been some problems with it...two aircraft are essentially not available to the RNZAF, two out of five.

"We're trying to run the whole system off three aircraft and the truth is the operational requirements rank highest -- higher than exercises."

The Hercules service deployments in Afghanistan and East Timor.

The Orion fleet is in a similar position, with two out of six undergoing upgrades.

Dr Mapp said the Hercules should be back in service before the end of the year and the Orions early next year.

The rest of the fleet have to go through the same upgrades and Dr Mapp said that in future there would be only one plane at a time taken out of action.

"When you're running small fleets there's certainly a risk in taking two aircraft out and that's not something I intend to see happen again," he said.