GDF to get new patrol vessels and aircraft this year

GDF to get new patrol vessels and aircraft this year

The Guyana Government is currently in talks with with several countries to procure patrol vessels and aircraft to boost the capacity of the Guyana Defence Force’s Air and Marine corps.

During the consideration of budget estimates for the Guyana Defence Force, Minister of Governance, Gail Teixeira said the Government is looking at a number of ways to enhance the country’s defence capabilities, which includes the enlistment of more ranks.

“The army has been building its fleet in terms of aircraft, there will be acquisition of new aircraft as well as to boost its marine capacity and so on. So along with this comes additional cost, the payments for air worthiness licence, this will be increasing becuse of the aquiaition of new aircraft, so not just the Bell, but additional aircraft has been put on order,” the Minister noted.

The Opposition questioned the Minister about the GDF’s capacity, especially as it relates to trained pilots to operate the new aircraft.

The Minister explained that there has always been a collaboration between GDF and civilian pilots, but shared the view that more training is needed to boost the air corps section of the GDF.

“The issue with the pilots is that every time you bring in a new aircraft, a new type or a new model, pilots have to be trained. So it is ongoing all the time, it is never a one stop shop, it is a constant process and I believe that the GDF has been sensitive to that and they have been doing that with training the different pilots either overseas or here. So, there is always an issue of capacity but GDF has had enough experience this area for quite a long time to have some capacity, and capability to manage this” Ms. Teixeira said.

The Minister further stated that Guyana will be securing additional boats to add to offshore patrol vessels which were procured for the army in 2023 and 2024. The new boats the Minister noted are specially ordered and built, according to the needs of the GDF.

The GDF has been allocated $50.4 Billion in this year’s budget.

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