A New Zealand SAS soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, Prime Minister John Key has announced.

A New Zealand navy warship may be deployed to hunt down pirates, possibly off the coast of Africa.

UPDATED MONDAY: Dr Mapp told media the exercise was not unusual -- business groups have visited military in the past -- but he was concerned about the use of firearms in the October training.

"They weren't playing war games, they (SAS) were really giving an indication of their values, their ethos and then some of their professional skills.

"I think it's not unreasonable for people to see the kind of skills that they've got."

More frontline soldiers, sailors and airmen is the key to New Zealand's defence future but there is not much in extra money, a defence white paper has revealed today.

The long-awaited New Zealand Defence Force white paper says there will be more investment in front-line personnel for all three branches of the military as many uniformed personnel are freed from roles to be taken over by an increasing number of civilians working within the military.

Defence Minister Dr Wayne Mapp said the last white paper was 13 years ago and the world had changed considerably since then.

A whistleblower in July told Defence Force bosses that its chief scientist gave false information on his CV.

Lieutenant General Jerry Mateparae said Stephen Wilce, head of the Defence Technology Agency (DTA) and New Zealand's chief defence scientist for the past five years, had resigned.

"We were alerted through an anonymous set of information that we investigated," Lt Gen Mateparae said.

After preliminary queries the force decided in-depth inquiries were needed.

The case raised employment, security and credibility issues.