Cabinet has approved a five year re-capitalization project for the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) which will see the JDF replacing obsolete and mainly unserviceable V150 armoured cars in its fleet.

Under the project, the JDF will acquire 12 Thales Australia Bushmaster armoured personnel carriers (APCs).

At present, the JDF has a complement of 14 Cadillac Gage V150s, 10 of which were acquired 37 years ago in 1976 and the other four were acquired in 1985. Over the course of their service life within the JDF, the vehicles have been utilized as critical enablers in many high risk situations such as internal security deployments in support of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) as well as pre and post disaster response and rescue operations in such instances as the Newmarket and Portland events of June 1979 and January 1999 respectively.

The Thales Bushmaster APC is a proven platform, designed for the urban operating environment as encountered during internal security operations, as well as the types of rugged rural terrain and adverse conditions that would exist in the event of a major natural disaster such as an earthquake or hurricane.

Delivery of these Thales Bushmasters will commence in 2015 and these APCs will enhance JDF’s ability to render aid to our citizens through assistance to other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).