Guyana shifts into aerospace defence systems- Ali

Last Updated on Friday, 11 July 2025, 22:22 by Writer

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has shifted gears into the use of aerospace defence systems to protect the country, President Irfaan Ali announced at the commissioning ceremony for a new Italian-made utility plane.

“We have expanded our air assets and capability to include our aerospace investment,” he told the event to officially welcome the Tecnam P2012 short takeoff and landing (STOL) plane that was bought for €2.9 million.

The President said Guyana’s aerospace defence was key, coming at a time of debate on data and information sovereignty and satellite ownership. Without providing any details, he said Guyana was already in talks about acquiring the right aerospace defence technology. “We have, already, ongoing negotiations and discussions surrounding satellite technology and other key and important air assets and defence system that are critical to the safety and security of our country and to ensure our sovereignty remains intact,” he said.

Noting that in recent times, low-investment technology had yielded impacts in conflicts and wars, he said the aerospace investments were beyond the helicopter and small passenger aircraft that the GDF operates. “It’s about leveraging fully our airspace with all available technology for the defence, modernisation, sovereignty and security of our country,” he said.

For more than two years now, Guyana has been alluding to support from Western allies in providing domain awareness on its borders.

President Ali said the GDF’s aerospace investments is a destination for “excellence and training” through the establishment of an aviation school. He said that institution would train commercial and military pilots. The Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier Omar Khan has already been tasked with crafting a proposal to make the school a reality.

Dr Ali said the GDF, through the Defence Board, was strategically aligning its land, air and marine assets for interoperability among the military, police and fire service.

Meanwhile, the President said Guyana was now regarded as “the first responders” of the Caribbean in times of natural disasters because of investments in infrastructure and human capital in the GDF and Guyana Police Force.

The President said since 2019, the government has more than tripled the GDF’s budgetary allocation. He said in 2019, the capital budget was GY$1.03 billion while it is GY$24.5 billion in 2025. “We have not only increased the budget. We have transformed how we think about defence. We’ve moved from maintenance to modernisation, from patching up to powering up, from stretching resources to strategically resourcing,” he said. Those investments include acquiring new aircraft and patrol boats.

Dr Ali said the Tecnam P2012 plane, while “not an attack aircraft”, would take the GDF to resupply remote outposts, medically evacuate sick and injured persons or respond to national emergencies. “When we chose this type of aircraft (it) was not because it looked pretty. We chose it because it could perform, because it could get in and out of those ‘tight’ hinterland strips, because it could be a true multirole platform for military operations and humanitarian assistance,” he said.

The Chief-of-Defence Staff, in his remarks, said the plane would be used for rapid deployment to remote areas, the conduct of surveillance, search, rescue operations, and support to law enforcement agencies to combat the smuggling of illegal drugs and firearms into Guyana.

Brigadier Khan said the GDF would be constructing another hangar to accommodate additional aircraft. Within the past five years, the GDF acquired five new and one refurbished aircraft. “By any measurement, it consolidates the transformation as being unprecedented in the recent history of the force,” he said. Brigadier Khan said more than GY$9 billion are allocated to transforming the Air Corps.

The Tecnam package includes training of pilots, engineers and technicians. The STOL plane bears the registration marking 8R-MAB after the town of Mabaruma. The contract was signed on 4 December 2024 and the Tecnam P2012 arrived on 13 June, 2025.