# Ghana Armed Forces retool with new vehicles, ships and helicopters

- Link: https://www.military.africa/2026/11/ghana-armed-forces-retool-with-new-vehicles-ships-and-helicopters/
- Published: 2026-11-04T18:55:41+01:00
- Author: Ekene Lionel

The [Ghana](https://www.military.africa/tag/ghana/) Armed Forces (GAF) took delivery
of 45 new Kia military vehicles on 16 October 2026, the latest step in a retooling
drive that has already brought a new patrol ship to the Ghana Navy and the first
of four Airbus helicopters to the Ghana Air Force this year, with more equipment
still to come as the country rebuilds its defence capabilities.

The batch comprises 15 Kia Light Tactical Vehicles (KLTV) for utility duties, together
with 15 four-wheel-drive (4×4) and 15 six-wheel-drive (6×6) Kia Medium Tactical 
Vehicle (KMTV) troop carriers. The GAF said the vehicles advance a national retooling
drive “across all frontiers” and are expected to improve troop transportation, ease
movement across difficult terrain and let the Army respond swiftly to operational
demands. The acquisition forms part of the government’s broader effort to modernise
the GAF, strengthen national security and improve the force’s capacity to safeguard
Ghana’s territorial integrity, [according to the GAF](https://www.myjoyonline.com/ghana-armed-forces-receives-45-utility-vehicles-to-boost-troop-mobility/).

![Row of new Kia KMTV troop-carrying trucks delivered to the Ghana Armed Forces](
https://www.military.africa/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Ghana-Armed-Forces-Kia-KMTV-
trucks.webp)

New Kia KMTV troop-carrying trucks lined up after their delivery to the Ghana Armed
Forces in October 2026. (Image: Ghana Armed Forces Department of Public Relations)

## Korean trucks for the Ghana Army

The KLTV, known as the K151 in South Korean service, entered production in 2016 
and has been in South Korean Army service since 2017. It is powered by a 3.0-litre
V6 diesel engine producing 225 horsepower, has a top speed of about 130 km/h and
carries a payload of one to three tonnes depending on configuration. The KMTV family
is built in 2.5-tonne 4×4 and 5-tonne 6×6 classes around a 6,798 cc diesel engine
rated at 280 PS in the 4×4 and 330 PS in the 6×6, with an eight-speed automatic 
gearbox, one metre of fording depth and an optional central tyre inflation system(
CTIS) for sand and soft ground. [According to Kia](https://org-military.kia.com/en/kmtv),
the truck can carry up to 22 troops in the field.

Ghana joins a growing list of African users of Kia’s military vehicles. Military
Africa has reported on [Kia tactical vehicles delivered to Nigeria](https://www.military.africa/2020/10/nigeria-receives-more-vt4-st1-tanks-sh2-sh4-self-propelled-artillery-and-kia-tactical-vehicles/)
in 2020, [Kia military trucks for Côte d’Ivoire](https://www.military.africa/2020/04/ivory-coast-to-receive-kia-military-trucks-from-south-korea/)
the same year and [100 Kia all-terrain vehicles for Niger](https://www.military.africa/2023/01/niger-acquires-100-kia-all-terrain-military-vehicles/)
in 2023, while Mali has used the KLTV with its special forces since 2017.

The October batch follows a first phase of vehicles that President John Dramani 
Mahama commissioned in January at the West African Soldiers’ Social Activity (WASA)
at Burma Camp in Accra, which included pickup trucks, buses and Land Cruisers. “
This is just the first phase of vehicles that the Armed Forces are to receive,” 
Mahama said at the time, [according to the Ghana News Agency](https://gna.org.gh/2026/01/president-mahama-commissions-a-fleet-vehicle-for-ghana-armed-forces/).

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![Kia KMTV 4x4 cargo trucks in Ghana Armed Forces camouflage](https://www.military.
africa/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Ghana-Armed-Forces-Kia-KMTV-4x4-trucks.webp)

Kia KMTV 4×4 trucks, part of the batch of 45 vehicles handed over to the Ghana Armed
Forces on 16 October 2026. (Image: Ghana Armed Forces Department of Public Relations)

## GNS Pru joins the fleet

Earlier in the year, the Ghana Navy acquired the Ghana Navy Ship (GNS) Pru, commissioning
the vessel on 10 February 2026 at the Sekondi Naval Base during a parade at which
national and Ghana Navy Colours were presented to the Western Naval Command. Its
commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Joshua Hughes Addison, received a Commissioning
Warrant signed by President Mahama, [the Ghana Navy said](https://navyonline.mil.gh/index.php/blogs/presentation-of-colours-to-the-western-naval-command-and-commissioning-of-ghana-navy-ship-pru).

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Defence Ernest Brogya Genfi said the
ship would enhance maritime patrols, protect offshore resources, combat illicit 
maritime activities and contribute to regional and international maritime security.“
With enhanced endurance and capability, GNS Pru will extend our reach,” he said.
The Chief of the Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Godwin Livinus Bessing, said the commissioning
of GNS Pru would strengthen the operational capacity of the Navy to respond to evolving
and asymmetric maritime threats.

The River class ship (P47) is a 42-metre Flex Fighter design acquired from Singapore’s
Penguin Shipyard. Ghana previously commissioned [four 40-metre Flex Fighter vessels](https://www.military.africa/2022/01/ghana-navy-receives-four-new-40-metres-flex-fighter-vessels/)
in February 2022, GNS Volta, Densu, Pra and Ankobra, which carry machine gun mounts
fore and aft, have ballistic protection around the wheelhouse and can accommodate
12 security personnel for the protection of offshore oil and gas installations. 
The Nigerian Navy is also reported to have acquired three 40-metre Flex Fighter 
Max patrol vessels from Penguin. The Flex Fighter family derives from Penguin’s 
Flex series of crew boats, which are widely used for offshore resupply and support
operations.

## Offshore patrol vessels, drones and riverine boats to follow

Additional assets are expected to follow for the Ghana Navy, including a fisheries
patrol vessel, 72-metre offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), six fast attack craft, 11
interceptor boats and numerous smaller patrol boats. Ghana’s 2026 budget provides
for two 72-metre OPVs fitted with helicopter pads and combat systems, Finance Minister
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament when he presented it in November 2025. In 
mid-October, the GAF said the Navy is also expected to integrate six V-BAT unmanned
aerial systems and 30 riverine boats to transform fisheries enforcement and the 
protection of offshore infrastructure. Built by the American firm Shield AI, the
V-BAT is a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone that can launch from and recover
to a small deck without a runway, which suits it to patrol vessels. The Navy has
operated smaller surveillance drones since [gaining a drone surveillance capability in 2023](https://www.military.africa/2023/01/ghana-navy-gains-drone-surveillance-capability/).

The Navy’s largest vessel, the 65-metre GNS Achimota (P46), was acquired from Japan
and commissioned by then President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Sekondi Naval
Base on 23 December 2024, the same day he commissioned Forward Operating Base (FOB)
Ezinlibo near the border with Côte d’Ivoire, as Military Africa [reported at the time](https://www.military.africa/2025/01/ghana-builds-baval-base-acquires-largest-naval-vessel-from-japan/).
The ship previously served as the Japanese fisheries patrol vessel Aratsu, [according to the Embassy of Japan in Ghana](https://www.gh.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_ja/11_000001_00598.html).
It was built by Kurinoura Shipbuilding in Japan in 1999, has a complement of 20 
people, and sailed 10,869 nautical miles in 36 days from Yawatahama to Sekondi. 
In the Ghana Navy fleet it is employed for fisheries protection, among other duties,
and as a training vessel for both officers and ratings.

## Airbus helicopters and a Falcon 6X for the Air Force

The Ghana Air Force also strengthened its capabilities with the delivery of an Airbus
Helicopters H175 from France on 5 March 2026, which Military Africa covered when
the [first H175 arrived at Air Force Base Accra](https://www.military.africa/2026/03/ghana-air-force-receives-first-airbus-h175-helicopter/).
The government presents the delivery as fulfilling the strategic vision of the Commander-
in-Chief, President Mahama, to build a standard 21st-century defence force. Speaking
at WASA in January, Mahama said: “Let me assure you that government remains fully
committed. Plans are well advanced to procure armoured personnel carriers, offshore
patrol vessels for the Ghana Navy, four brand new Eurocopter helicopters for the
Ghana Air Force.”

Ghana has ordered two H175Ms, one ACH175 and one ACH160 from Airbus Helicopters 
for transport, search and rescue, disaster relief and other duties, as Military 
Africa [reported in January](https://www.military.africa/2026/01/ghana-modernizes-air-wing-with-airbus-h175m-multi-mission-helicopter/).
The H175M is a military-configured airframe for missions such as personnel and cargo
transport and civil support, while the ACH160 and ACH175 are Airbus Corporate Helicopters(
ACH) configurations likely acquired for VIP duties. In December 2025, Ghana’s Parliament
[approved](https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/4-helicopters-and-presidential-jet-contract-agreements-approved-by-parliament.html)
a €125 million agreement between the Ministry of Defence and Airbus Helicopters,
as well as a $60 million agreement with Dassault Aviation for a single Falcon 6X
aircraft for the Ghana Air Force. One more helicopter and the Falcon 6X are expected
to be delivered later this year, followed by another two helicopters in 2027.

The helicopters will help rebuild a rotary-wing fleet that lost a Harbin Z-9 on 
6 August 2025, when the aircraft [crashed in the Ashanti Region](https://www.military.africa/2025/08/ghana-military-harbin-z-9-helicopter-crash/),
killing all eight people on board, including Defence Minister Dr Edward Omane Boamah,
whom Ato Forson later described as the architect of the GAF’s modernisation strategy.

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## Broader expansion and retooling

The Ghana Armed Forces are considered among the most professional, experienced and
capable in sub-Saharan Africa. Unlike many of its regional counterparts, Ghana has
largely avoided military interference in the country’s politics since the early 
1990s. As a result, the GAF has emerged as one of West Africa’s more dependable 
forces, perhaps best known for its substantial commitment to international peace
operations through United Nations (UN) peacekeeping, and to regional security operations
under Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and UN banners.

Although the GAF has little in the way of offensive capability, it is relatively
well equipped compared with its regional contemporaries, having benefited from prolonged
modernisation, retraining and reorganisation efforts supported by foreign partners.
It also benefited from modest but fairly consistent defence spending through the
2010s. More recently, defence spending rose sharply in 2024/2025, by some 61.3% 
year on year, and this higher level is expected to be sustained, at least in the
near term, with the defence allocation increasing to GH¢10.77 billion (about $927
million) in 2026. Budget figures compiled by [Ghana Fact](https://ghanafact.com/factsheet-2025-vs-2026-budgetary-allocations-for-all-23-ministries/)
show the Ministry of Defence allocation rising from GH¢6.3 billion in 2025, an increase
of almost 70%.

The increase forms part of a renewed effort to retool and modernise the force so
that it can more effectively face evolving global and regional security challenges.
In October 2025, at the Land Combat Firepower Demonstration in Bundase, Genfi described
the drive as one “the likes of which have never been witnessed in our history”, 
[saying](https://graphiconline.com/news/general-news/government-pledges-major-modernisation-of-ghana-armed-forces.html)
it would extend beyond defence procurement to the establishment of new military 
units, the construction of new forward operating bases and the upgrading of existing
infrastructure to improve efficiency and operational capacity. Key government commitments
include funding renewed armoured and mechanised capabilities, new light attack aircraft
for the Air Force, more modern patrol boats and enhanced special forces capabilities.
At WASA in January, Mahama added plans to recruit 12,000 personnel over four years,
set up two new military units in the Oti and Central Regions and build a Cyber and
Electronic Warfare Centre at the Tamale Air Force Base.

![Kia KLTV light tactical vehicles of the Ghana Armed Forces driving in convoy](
https://www.military.africa/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Ghana-Armed-Forces-Kia-KLTV-
light-tactical-vehicles.webp)

Kia KLTV light tactical vehicles of the Ghana Armed Forces. Fifteen were delivered
in the October 2026 batch. (Image: Ghana Armed Forces Department of Public Relations)

## An Army facing north

Structurally, the Army remains by far the largest and most operationally important
branch, with an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 active personnel. It forms the backbone
of Ghana’s internal security and border protection efforts and is increasingly oriented
towards countering potential spillover from Sahelian instability into northern Ghana,
a threat Military Africa examined in [Ghana confronts growing terror threats](https://www.military.africa/2025/02/ghana-confronts-growing-terror-threats/).
The GAF has also [deployed locally built AeriusPro VTOL drones](https://www.military.africa/2026/01/ghana-deploys-indigenous-aeriuspro-vtol-drones-for-northern-border-security/)
along the northern border and [commissioned a special operations training school](https://www.military.africa/2025/03/ghana-army-commissions-special-ops-training-school/)
in 2025.

In recent years, the Army has expanded its capabilities considerably through the
procurement of several hundred vehicles over the past decade, including several 
large donations, among them just under 200 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and
infantry mobility vehicles. These include [Puma M36 mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles](https://www.military.africa/2025/05/ghana-receives-14-puma-m36-m3-mraps-from-the-us/),
APC-79 Fighters, MXT-MVs, BTR-70s and [Otokar Cobras](https://www.military.africa/2019/11/ghanaian-army-now-operating-otokar-cobra-armored-vehicles/),
alongside the [SFIGHTER-2 APCs](https://www.military.africa/2024/08/ghana-army-acquires-dozens-of-sfighter-2-armoured-vehicles/)
commissioned in 2024. Other capabilities have also grown, notably through the acquisition
of four additional Type 81 122 mm self-propelled multiple rocket launchers from 
China in 2023, which [Poly Technologies handed over at Bundase](https://www.military.africa/2024/01/chinas-poly-technologies-gifts-rocket-artillery-armoured-vehicles-to-ghana/)
that December.

One armoured programme remains stalled. Ghana signed an $80 million supplier’s credit
agreement with Elbit Systems Land in August 2020 for [19 armoured vehicles](https://www.military.africa/2020/10/elbit-land-systems-to-supply-19-armoured-vehicles-to-ghana/)
and related systems, and Ato Forson told Parliament in November 2025 that $40 million
had been paid but no vehicles delivered, and that the government would renegotiate
the agreement.

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While more modest, the Air Force has also seen a boost to its capabilities over 
the preceding decade. Its training and airlift capabilities in particular have improved
markedly, while the government has also committed to enhancing its combat capabilities
for ground support. Ghana has weighed several options for that role, from the [L-39NG, whose purchase stalled for lack of funds](https://www.military.africa/2023/02/ghanas-l-39ng-acquisition-in-limbo-due-to-funding/),
to the [A-29 Super Tucano](https://www.military.africa/2024/12/african-air-force-buys-super-tucano-aircraft-likely-ghana/)
and the [L-39 Skyfox demonstrated in Ghana](https://www.military.africa/2025/12/aero-demonstrates-l-39-skyfox-in-ghana/)
in December 2025, although [funding has long held back air force modernisation](https://www.military.africa/2025/09/ghana-struggles-to-fund-air-force-modernisation/).

![Convoy of Kia KMTV 6x6 troop-carrying vehicles of the Ghana Armed Forces on the
road](https://www.military.africa/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Ghana-Armed-Forces-
Kia-KMTV-6x6-troop-carriers.webp)

Kia KMTV 6×6 troop-carrying vehicles of the Ghana Armed Forces in convoy. (Image:
Ghana Armed Forces Department of Public Relations)

## Guarding Ghana’s offshore wealth

The Navy, by contrast, has undergone more substantive modernisation. Although a 
large proportion of its vessels are ageing, with many dating back to the 1980s, 
its overall capabilities have expanded considerably over the past 15 years. This
reflects a growing recognition of the strategic importance of Ghana’s Exclusive 
Economic Zone (EEZ), particularly following the discovery of offshore oil and gas
reserves. In response, the government has prioritised maritime security, committing
to the acquisition of new inshore and offshore patrol vessels. These efforts, supported
by foreign partners, have added approximately seven vessels to the fleet, including
the current flagship, GNS Achimota.

Ghana has been waiting for high-endurance OPVs since at least 2019, when Military
Africa reported that the [Navy was building a new base and ordering patrol vessels](https://www.military.africa/2019/07/ghanaian-navy-builds-new-naval-base-orders-eight-patrol-vessels/),
and our analysis last year found that [modernising the Ghanaian Navy will require willpower and funding](https://www.military.africa/2025/07/modernising-the-ghanaian-naval-capabilities-will-require-willpower-and-funding/).
Accra’s ambitions at sea were on show again when it [hosted Africa’s first continental maritime security forum](https://www.military.africa/2026/11/ghana-hosts-africas-first-continental-maritime-security-forum/).
With defence spending now sharply higher, the delivery of the two 72-metre OPVs,
the V-BAT drones and the remaining Airbus helicopters, and a resolution of the Elbit
armoured vehicle contract, will show how much of the retooling programme the GAF
can turn into capability on the ground and at sea.

### _Related_