A Fijian Land Force Perspective
Defending the sea and air from land, contributions of the joint force in peace and war

Brig. Gen. Onisivoro Covunisaqa/Land Force Commander, Republic of Fiji Military Forces
Fiji is a small island nation in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. We are surrounded by water. Our livelihoods are closely linked to the sea. Due to Fiji’s isolation, the traditional threats within the conflict space — interstate war and armed clashes, territorial disputes and border tensions — are minimal to nonexistent.
However, nontraditional threats, such as climate change and environmental degradation, natural disasters, transnational crime, human trafficking and drugs, are more prominent. To effectively defend the sea and air domains from land against nontraditional threats, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), through the Land Force brigade, uses a comprehensive and layered approach to address our challenges. This is because we are a very small Army. We do not have the resources and platforms that most of our bigger partners have to conduct our operations.
From an RFMF and land forces perspective, the following are the frameworks that we use and rely on to address these challenges: commitment to the rules-based order and institutions; a whole-of-government approach; a combat-ready and agile Army; and partnerships.

SGT. JOHANNA PULLUM/U.S. ARMY
Peace Frameworks
Fiji realizes the importance of maintaining a rules-based order and institutions. Fiji has been a member of the United Nations since its independence [in 1970] and currently contributes heavily to peacekeeping around the world. To date, we have a brigade-sized Land Force that contributes heavily to peacekeeping. We have about 500 Soldiers deployed to missions around the world. These include the multinational forces in Egypt, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force between Syria and Israel, and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. We also have observers in Lebanon, Yemen and Sudan.
Peacekeeping is important to Fiji as the same stability and peace operations that we commit ourselves to overseas guarantee our security as a country. These also include reliance on international norms of the rules-based order to protect against illegal fishing, transnational crime and drug trafficking, and mechanisms for recourse on issues that may arise. In terms of frameworks and institutions, Fiji, under the Pacific Islands Forum, relies on agreements such as the Boe Declaration. That ensures that we have a regional security approach to first have a collective voice in addressing our security challenges — such as climate security, human security and humanitarian assistance, environment and resource security, transnational crime, and cybersecurity — creating an enabling environment for implementation, including an appropriate coordination mechanism.
In terms of a region defending the sea and air from land for nontraditional threats, our most important tool is a collective Pacific voice and collaboration among our various agencies. The premise is that although we are small, collectively, as Pacific Island states, we create a web of interconnectedness that allows us to address issues in the sea and air.
Fiji, due to its limited economic and land forces capability, relies on the whole-of-government approach to defend against these threats. Our law enforcers on land rely on the government emergency powers with our National Disaster Management Office, and the resources of government to deploy and conduct operations using commercial maritime vessels and our national airline, Fiji Airways, especially during climate change-induced events.
Fiji’s Land Force’s mission is to generate combat-effective and agile land forces that will allow it to compete and win across the spectrum of conflict.

Key Partners, Exercises
Given our limited resources, the main effort is to have a highly trained Army. In terms of future operations, the RFMF Land Force sees itself as part of a bigger regional force under Australia or New Zealand to provide the platform that can allow it to defend the sea and air from the land. To this extent, the Land Force, with the support of the government and its entire headquarters, conducts readiness exercises and exchanges with the United States Army Pacific (USARPAC), under the Vuvale Partnership [an October 2022 status of forces agreement] with the Australian Defence Force, and in partnership with the New Zealand Defence Force.
Some notable exercises we conduct are with USARPAC and the [U.S. Defense Department’s] National Guard State Partnership Program. Every year in September, we conduct an exercise in Fiji with the U.S. Army Pacific called Cartwheel, which is named after Operation Cartwheel, a major military operation during World War II in the Pacific. Exercise Cartwheel was initially a bilateral exercise. However, it has expanded into a multilateral exercise with partners from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and recently, observers and participants from Tonga.
The exercise ensures that our forces continue to meet the high level of comprehensive readiness for unified land operations to enhance operational capability of joint forces, as well as promoting the sharing of mutually beneficial information among the forces and the strengthening of ties among partner nations.
The Vuvale Partnership includes a training and exchange series called Coral Warrior. The program, which is funded by Australia, has progressed from a single Coral Soldier partnership between the 3rd Battalion Fiji Infantry Regiment and the 89th Battalion from Australia, to a series of Coral Sapper exercises with the RFMF engineers and the Australian engineers; a Coral exercise between the logistics battalion of RFMF and its Australian counterpart; and the Coral Peacekeeper, with the joint task force command, which handles our peacekeeping operations overseas.
Recently, under the Vuvale Partnership, the Royal Australian Air Force deployed a C-27 [light tactical airlift] aircraft to Fiji for two weeks, allowing us the flexibility to plan and execute our air operations. Additionally, the Australian Defence Force provides airlift for our troops for peacekeeping mission rotations. [There also are] training exchanges with New Zealand under the [March 2022] Duavata Partnership, in which Fiji’s Infantry Battalion is partnered with 2nd/1st Battalion to conduct training and attachment, both in Fiji and New Zealand.

Novel Forums
Recent developments include the Pacific Small Armies Forum. This is a New Zealand Army-funded working group initiated by then-New Zealand Chief of Army Maj. Gen. John Boswell, and it includes Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. The purpose of the forum is to collaborate and shape our future Pacific Small States Infantry Company Group. The composition could be organized to address any regional issues should the need arise.
We have established the Rapid Response Infantry Company group within the RFMF, which is capable of a variety of missions. These include humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, counterterrorism, amphibious operations, and special operational tasks. This group allows for the immediate deployment to any emergency. It can be deployed throughout Fiji, and is available for the government to address traditional and nontraditional threats.
Smaller Pacific Island states have different priorities in terms of security challenges and nontraditional threats such as climate change and environmental degradation, natural disasters, transnational crime, and human trafficking. And addressing these challenges from the land, due to our limited capability, unites on whole-of-government approaches and the use of commercial and national platforms. In terms of combat readiness and operations, this will usually be through the regional network where our bigger partners are relied upon to provide platforms to ensure we can defend the air and the sea from the land.
Brig. Gen. Onisivoro Covunisaqa made this presentation at the Land Forces Pacific conference, hosted by the Association of the United States Army in Honolulu, Hawaii, in mid-May 2024. It has been edited to fit FORUM’s format.