Weapons re-tested after 20 years

Papua New Guinea Defence Force’s weapons that were at one time used during the Bougainville Crisis have been tested again after being left idle in the armoury storeroom for more than 20 years, a spokesman said.
The officer in charge of the range practice for the 1st Battalion Royal Pacific Islands Regiment, Support Company (name withheld for military reasons), said this during the Support Company range practice at the Goldie River Training Depot’s classification range outside of Port Moresby.
“After the Bougainville Crisis most of our mortar tubes have been left idle in the battalion so we decided to bring the company up so we could use our mortar tubes and our recon (reconnaissance) as well,” he said.
“Currently we have seven plates or mortar tubes. We are using three plates to fire during the practice.”
The officer said the Support Company had not been accustomed to the weapons in more than 10 years. He said they decided to use this range practice to get to know how to use  these weapons.
He told The National that the Support Company was the specialist company in the battalion.
“We are specialised in mortar shooting, recon, field engineering, regimental aid post for medics, and band platoon. We are also responsible for the signals.”
The officer said Recon was a special operations team in the unit.