The National Assembly has approved $414.2 million in supplementary funding for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
The sum caters for the maintenance of the King Air 350 Beechcraft to increase aerial operational capacity and the training of four engineers, and for the purchase of one Bell heavy-lift helicopter.
Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance within the Office of the President, Dr. Ashni Singh explained that in both instances, acquiring and engaging these two critical pieces of equipment are important to strengthening the operational capacity of the GDF.
He said provisions were made for training of both engineers and pilots for the Beechcraft.
“Both engineering and pilot training are specific to aircraft type and so what we are providing here is specific training to the aircraft type… This is not training as is done by the Public Service Ministry, this is specific training for the aircraft type.”
Dr. Singh further explained that the engineers were identified by the leadership of the army Air Corps. The training will be done overseas and will focus on the maintenance and operation of the aircraft. [Extracted and Modified from DPI]
