# Ghana Armed Forces sharpen readiness in busy season of exercises

- Link: https://www.military.africa/2026/11/ghana-armed-forces-sharpen-readiness-in-busy-season-of-exercises/
- Published: 2026-11-09T17:23:32+01:00
- Author: Ekene Lionel

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) have run a string of operational and training exercises
since July 2026, ending with a live-fire Land Combat Firepower Demonstration at 
the Battle Training Camp in Bundase, Greater Accra Region, on 30 October. Between
them, the drills tested every level of the force: a staff college campaign-planning
exercise, a General Headquarters tabletop exercise, an army-wide marksmanship competition
and a joint live-fire demonstration. Alongside them, a new military training programme
for national service graduates got under way. The exercises come as the GAF re-equips
and as violent extremism spreads south from the Sahel towards Ghana’s northern border.

![Ghana Army truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher firing during the 2026 Land 
Combat Firepower Demonstration at Bundase](https://www.military.africa/wp-content/
uploads/2026/11/ghana-army-rocket-launcher-bundase-2026-enhanced.webp)

A Ghana Army truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher fires during the 2026 Land Combat
Firepower Demonstration at Bundase, 30 October 2026. (Image: Ghana Armed Forces)[
Image enhanced]

## Live fire at Bundase

The Land Combat Firepower Demonstration, also referred to as the Land Combat Fire
Demonstration or Land Combat Power Demonstration, is an annual live-fire and tactical
field exercise in the GAF training calendar. It is designed to bridge classroom 
theory and battlefield practice for students of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and
Staff College (GAFCSC), and this year’s edition was held for Senior Division Course
48, [the GAF said](https://gafonline.mil.gh/blog-details/gaf-demonstrates-combat-readiness-at-2026-land-combat-firepower-demonstration).

The 5th Infantry Battalion led and hosted the exercise, supported by the 1st and
2nd Infantry Battalions, 16 Artillery Brigade, 15 Armoured Brigade, 14 Engineer 
Brigade, 17 Army Signal Brigade and the Army Special Operations Brigade, with elements
of the Ghana Navy and Ghana Air Force. Infantry platoons worked alongside armour,
artillery, engineers and signals to simulate a full-spectrum response to a sub-regional
threat. Students and troops practised the core tactical phases of interdicting an
approaching force, neutralising hostile combatants and destroying enemy logistics
bases, against a simulated opposing force called “Agressa”.

The live drills used light and heavy weapons. On show were M16 and AK-47 rifles,
light machine guns including the L4A4, and Taurus PT92 AF, CZ 999 Scorpion and Smith&
Wesson M&P 9 pistols, along with rocket-propelled grenades and artillery, including
a truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher. Reports from the range also mention OTT
Hunter tactical vehicles and Cavok CK 23 unmanned aerial systems (UAS), a French
vertical take-off and landing drone. The scenario integrated fire support across
deep, close and rear operations and included simulated battlefield casualty evacuations,
among them treatment of traumatic amputations.

The guest of honour was Peter Lanchene Toobu, Member of Parliament for Wa West and
Vice-Chairman of Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee. The Chief of the Army
Staff, Major General Lawrence Kwaku Gbetanu, the Chief of the Naval Staff, Rear 
Admiral Livinus Godwin Bessing, and international military attachés also attended.
Toobu told the gathering that “the sovereignty of this nation, the defence of this
nation, is in the hands of the Ghana Armed Forces”, adding: “Ghana is a no-go area.”
He also stressed respect for civilian authority, saying mutual respect was essential
to civil-military relations.

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Brigadier General Edward Awaribey, General Officer Commanding Southern Command and
Joint Task Force Commander for the exercise, said “this demonstration is not merely
a training routine”. He said it showed how a battle group could coordinate defensive
and offensive operations while integrating fire support and other combat assets,
and pointed to emerging security threats in the West African sub-region. The GAF
said the exercise ended without any reported casualties or damage.

![Ghana Armed Forces senior officers and guests walking across the range at Bundase
during the 2026 Land Combat Firepower Demonstration](https://www.military.africa/
wp-content/uploads/2026/11/gaf-officers-guests-bundase-firepower-demonstration-2026-
enhanced.webp)

Senior officers and guests on the range at the 2026 Land Combat Firepower Demonstration,
Bundase. (Image: Ghana Armed Forces) [Image enhanced]

## Exercise Thunderbolt 2026

A month earlier, the Ghana Army ran Exercise Thunderbolt 2026, a four-day marksmanship
and combat-readiness competition held from 28 September to 1 October at the Yawhimah
Military Shooting Range in Sunyani, Bono Region, and hosted by 3 Infantry Battalion.
Teams came from Southern Command, Northern Command, Central Command, Support Services
Command, the Army Special Operations Brigade, 15 Armoured Brigade, 17 Army Signal
Brigade, 16 Artillery Brigade and 14 Engineer Brigade, [the Ghana Army said](https://ga.mil.gh/blog/ghana-army-commences-exercise-thunderbolt-2026).

Competitors were tested with M16 rifles and carbines and pistols, and on falling-
plate shooting. Southern Command was named overall winner. The competition also 
served to select the army’s shooting team for the Ghana Armed Forces Shooting Competition,
Exercise Fire Blast 2026. Opening the event, Brigadier General Joshua Amanor, General
Officer Commanding Central Command, told participants: “Compete hard but compete
fairly. Seek not only to win but also to learn,” and warned that “we cannot be prepared
when the crisis occurs,” [MyJoyOnline reported](https://www.myjoyonline.com/ghana-army-urged-to-maintain-high-readiness-amid-evolving-regional-security-threats/).
Bono Regional Minister Joseph Addai Akwaboah described the exercise as “an opportunity
for participating formations to demonstrate and assess their firing capabilities.”

![Ghana Army shooting teams in formation with unit flags at the Yawhimah Military
Shooting Range for Exercise Thunderbolt 2026](https://www.military.africa/wp-content/
uploads/2026/11/20260928151403-0Kss9l3q.webp)

Ghana Army teams at the opening of Exercise Thunderbolt 2026 at the Yawhimah Military
Shooting Range, Sunyani. (Image: Ghana Army / 3 Garrison Public Information Detachment)

## Resolute Synergy and Nkabom

At the strategic level, the GAF held Exercise Resolute Synergy 2026, a three-day
operational-level joint tabletop exercise, from 25 to 27 August at the Great Minds
Event Centre, Burma Camp, under the theme “Enhancing Preparedness through Joint 
Training”. Opened by the Chief of the Defence Staff, Lieutenant General William 
Agyapong, it tested strategic readiness, inter-agency coordination and decision-
making across the land, maritime, air, cyber and information domains, including 
communications, command and control and resource sharing between the services and
civilian defence staff, [the GAF said](https://gafonline.mil.gh/blog-details/gaf-commences-ex-resolute-synergy-2026).
Official GAF updates described it as the first General Headquarters tabletop exercise
of its kind in the CDS’s 36-year career, and the exercise was framed against regional
volatility and the southward spread of extremist threats.

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Agyapong asked evaluators for “honest assessments to help improve future training
and operations”. The Director General Training, Brigadier General William Kwabiah,
said success would depend on how well lessons learnt were built into training, doctrine,
plans and future operations. Closing the exercise, Agyapong said lessons on resource
management and deployment would be fed into future operational doctrine, [the Ghana Air Force reported](https://af.mil.gh/social-board/news/gaf-concludes-exercise-resolute-synergy-2026with-focus-on-strategic-readiness).

Before that, from 27 July to 5 August, students of the GAFCSC Senior Command and
Staff Course (SCSC) 47 held Exercise Nkabom at Otu Barracks, Teshie. Nkabom is a
joint, combined and multinational operational-level exercise built around an all-
domain hybrid campaign and peace support operations, moving through shaping and 
deployment, intervention, stabilisation and withdrawal. This year’s scenario was
set in a fictional “Zafran Archipelago” of four islands between Ghana’s coast and
the Gulf of Guinea, [the college said](https://gafcscmil.edu.gh/about/blog/gafcsc-scsc-47-holds-exercise-nkabom).
Students in Joint Task Force and component headquarters appointments produced campaign
plans, targeting, logistics and media plans and operational orders under directing
staff and external controllers, and fronted simulated interviews and a press conference
covering humanitarian concerns and rules of engagement. The exercise served as the
capstone of SCSC 47’s study of campaign planning and operational art.

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## Military training for national service graduates

Beyond the regular force, the GAF has partnered with the National Service Authority(
NSA) on a Basic Military Training Programme for national service personnel, aimed
at instilling discipline, physical fitness and civic responsibility. Screening and
medical examinations for pre-selected volunteers ran from 2 to 7 November 2026, 
including at Burma Camp, [the Ghanaian Times reported](https://ghanaiantimes.com.gh/nsa-begins-screening-for-basic-military-training-on-november-2/).
About 2,000 participants are being selected from more than 3,000 applicants for 
a four-week course covering basic drill, physical conditioning, weapon-handling 
basics, first aid and emergency preparedness. Participants are to receive priority
consideration for future enlistment into the armed forces, and officials have floated
making the training compulsory.

## Preparing for threats from the north

The exercises come as the GAF re-equips. Military Africa recently reported that 
the [Ghana Armed Forces are retooling with new vehicles, ships and helicopters](https://www.military.africa/2026/11/ghana-armed-forces-retool-with-new-vehicles-ships-and-helicopters/),
and the army has [deployed locally built drones to watch the northern border](https://www.military.africa/2026/01/ghana-deploys-indigenous-aeriuspro-vtol-drones-for-northern-border-security/).
Ghana has so far escaped the jihadist attacks that have spread from Burkina Faso
into coastal neighbours such as Togo and Benin. The emphasis on joint fire support,
inter-agency coordination and a larger reserve of trained young people points to
a force preparing for that threat reaching its own territory.

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