Ghana Armed Forces

Ghana Armed Forces
Founded	1957
Service branches	Border Guard Unit President's Own Guard Regiment Army Air Force Navy
Headquarters	Accra, Greater Accra
Leadership
President of Ghana, Commander-in-Chief	Nana Akufo-Addo
Minister of Defence	The Right Honourable Benjamin Kunbuor
Chief of the Defence Staff	Air Marshall Michael Samson-Oje
Manpower
Military age	16–30 years of age (2013)
Conscription	No conscription: not married and not bonded (2013)
Active personnel	13,500 (IISS 2009)
Expenditures
Percent of GDP	2.0% (FY 2010)
Industry
Domestic suppliers	DIHOC: GHA
Foreign suppliers	United States  Iran  Russia  United Kingdom  Brazil  Italy  Israel  France  Canada  Nigeria  South Africa  India  Australia  Germany  China  Turkey  Belgium  Netherlands  Mexico
Related articles
History	Gold Coast Regiment GAF internal operations National Liberation Council (1966–1969) National Redemption Council (1972–1975) Supreme Military Council (1975–1979) Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (1979) Provisional National Defence Council (1981–1993) GAF external operations Congo ONUC (1960–1964) Rhodesian Bush War (1964–1979) Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) Rwandan Civil War (1990–1994) Rwandan Genocide (1994) Western Sahara War (1975–1991) Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002) First Liberian Civil War (1989–1996) Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003) Second Congo War (1998–2003) Chadian Civil War (2005–2010) Sudan–South Sudan Border War (2012) First Ivorian Civil War (2002–2007) Eritrean–Ethiopian War (1998–2000) Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) Nepalese Civil War (1996–2006) Georgian–Abkhazian conflict (1989–present)
Ranks	Air Force ranks and insignia Army ranks and insignia Navy ranks and insignia

Gold Coast Regiment

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is the unified armed force of Ghana, consisting of the Army (GA), Navy (GN), and Ghana Air Force. The GAF are supervised by the Ghanaian Ministry of Defence.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces is the President of Ghana, who is also the supreme military commander of the President's Own Guard Regiment (POGR) and of the Border Guard Unit (BGU). The supervision of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is managed by the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff.

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) were formed in 1957. Major General Stephen Otu was appointed GAF Chief of Defence Staff in September 1961. From 1966, the GAF was extensively involved in politics, mounting several coups. Kwame Nkrumah had become Ghana's first Prime Minister when the country became independent in 1957. As Nkrumah's rule wore on, he began to take actions which disquieted the leadership of the armed forces, including the creation and expansion of the President's Own Guard Regiment (POGR). As a result, on February 24, 1966, a small number of Army military personnel and senior police officials, led by Colonel Emmanuel Kotoka, (commander of the Second Army Brigade at Kumasi), Major Akwasi Afrifa, (staff officer in charge of army training and operations), Lieutenant General (retired) Joseph Ankrah, and J.W.K. Harlley, (the police inspector general), successfully launched "Operation Cold Chop", the 1966 Ghanaian_coup d'état, against the Nkrumah regime. The group formed the National Liberation Council, which ruled Ghana from 1966 to 1969.