In Tonga, the HMAF’s primary missions are protecting the King and
Tonga’s sovereignty; it is also responsible for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, search and rescue operations, monitoring against illegal fishing, and delivering supplies to the outer islands; the HMAF has contributed limited numbers of personnel to multinational military operations in
Afghanistan,
Iraq, and the
Solomon Islands; it is a small force comprised of royal guards, marines, a few naval patrol boats, and a couple of aircraft for maritime patrolling, search and rescue, and training purposes
Tonga participated in World War I as part of the
New Zealand Expeditionary Force, but the
Tonga Defense Force (TDF) was not established until 1939 at the beginning of World War II; in 1943,
New Zealand helped train about 2,000 Tongan troops who saw action in the
Solomon Islands; the TDF was disbanded at the end of the war, but was reactivated in 1946 as the
Tonga Defense Services (TDS); in 2013, the name of the TDS was changed to His Majesty’s Armed Forces of
Tonga (HMAF); Tongan troops deployed to
Iraq from 2004-2008 and
Afghanistan to support UK forces from 2010-2014
Tonga has a "shiprider" agreement with the US, which allows local maritime law enforcement officers to embark on US Coast Guard (USCG) and US Navy (USN) vessels, including to board and search vessels suspected of violating laws or regulations within
Tonga's designated exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or on the high seas; "shiprider" agreements also enable USCG personnel and USN vessels with embarked USCG law enforcement personnel to work with host nations to protect critical regional resources (2024)