JDF to get Two New Aircraft

Cabinet has approved the purchase of two Diamond DA 40 FP single engine aircraft for the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF). The Government has also approved the sale of a Gulf Stream Air Commander aircraft that the JDF now owns.
This was announced by the Minister of Information and Development, Colin Campbell, at the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing held at Jamaica House yesterday (September 11).
Mr. Campbell said that since 1972, the JDF pilots have been trained in Canada at a military aviation training institution, but that a new consortium was awarded the training contract over the existing company last year. This resulted in an increase in the cost to train Jamaican pilots from approximately $165,000 to over $1 million.
“As a result, the aircrafts are being acquired for the JDF to conduct fix wing pilot training at the Jamaica Military Aviation School,” the Minister pointed out.
He informed that the JDF was currently short of 25 pilots, and it is expected that, “with the new training to be offered here in Jamaica, we would be able to train our pilots to close the gap which exists”.
The new aircraft will be acquired at a cost of US$424,000 each, and the Gulf Stream Air Commander aircraft is being sold for US$475,000.