In 1982 8 Troop performed a small controlled demolition of the Woronora Weir at Engadine. When Severe Tropical Cyclone Isaac hit Tonga on 3 March 1982, killing 6 people and making 45,000 homeless, the entire squadron was deployed to Tonga for a two-week period to assist with urgent shelter and recovery efforts. In 1985 the Squadron rebuilt the airfield at the army's Shoalwater Bay Training Area. In 1987–88 over a six-month period the Plant Troop constructed a large earth filled dam on the upper Nepean River at the Bents Basin State Recreation Area. The squadron participated in a major exercise with the 1st Construction Regiment at Singleton, New South Wales in 1988. This was the first occasion that the Transfield heavy girder bridge had been constructed on exercise. Also in 1988 9 Troop constructed the Holsworthy Range Control facility and facilities at Penrith. Other works were undertaken overseas by detachments as part of the Defence Co-operation Program. Established in the early 1960s to engage with Southeast Asian nations, in the early 1980s the program was refocused upon the nations in the Southwest Pacific, where a number of construction projects were implemented. During this time, projects were completed in several countries including: Tonga: Construction of facilities for the Tonga Defence Services; Vanuatu: To assist Vanuatu in maintaining and operating its Pacific class patrol boat, donated by Australia in 1987, the squadron deployed a composite troop of 30 personnel for four months in 1988 to construct a Patrol Boat Base and support facilities in Port Vila; and Papua New Guinea where facilities were constructed for the Papua New Guinea Defence Force. In early 1988, the squadron deployed an officer to Wilkes Station, Antarctica to develop an environmental clean-up plan to remove, make safe or dispose of a large accumulation of rubbish, fuel in drums, explosives, chemicals and gas cylinders deposited since the late 1950s. The plan was subsequently carried out over a period of years for the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions by a series of detachments from the squadron. Just prior to deployment to Namibia in January 1989, 9 Troop was deployed at short notice to construct a Light Assault Floating Bridge (Pontoon bridge) across the Macquarie River on the Mitchell Highway in Wellington, New South Wales which had been destroyed by a truck carrying an excavator. Namibia (1989–1990) Having been on stand-by since 1979, the squadron finally deployed to Namibia