The United States is second to none when it comes to quality and the Super Tucano embodies this fact. The A-29 aircaft is purpose built from the ground up for COIN missions. Every component is almost a customized design. Perhaps part of the reason it took so long.
It can operate from austere locations under difficult circumstances. The landing wheels are so strong you'd think they were built to slam unto the decks of an aircraft carrier.
The first batch six delivered came with their full combat package. The incoming batch of six are coming with their full ISR FLIR package for combat reconnaisance.
The Air Base infrastructure housing the aircrafts are the first of its kind in Africa. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers selected Tetra Tech to provide engineering expertise for perimeter security, an 8,000 foot runway and airfield that will house the $500 million worth of plane
The A-29s and will dominate the skies of the northeast/west for close air support COIN operations because of their slow speed, long loiter time and precision guided weaponry.
Two M- 346FA Tactical Squadron (24 aircrafts) will most certainly replace the Alpha as the workhorse of the NAF. A radar equipped multirole fighter combining high performance with the versatility
to tackle multiple missions. A cost effective, tactical solution to the requirement of the modern battlefield. The NAF scored big on this one.
Nigeria's fleet of Wing Loong II, Chang Hong -4 and CH-3B armed attack drones will be the permanent sentry in the sky, able to stay airborne for 30 hours. It can stay up all night. There's no hiding from this one. It has all the time in the world. Never gets tired.
The JF-17 and F-7Ni air superiority fighters will be Nigeria's first line of defence against a hostile air force.
They are the only airframes in our arsenal designed for fight air to air combat. The JF-17 is equiped with advanced avionics and weapons to detect, acquire,
track and attack enemy aircraft while operating in friendly or enemy airspace. The F-7Ni though an old platform is still a very lethal fighter, but will play a supporting role in Strategic Air Defence.
It didn't take long for the world to figure out the combat potential of the JF-17 with proven combat experience in Pakistan and Nigeria (in the air to ground role). It is fast becoming
the fastest selling 4th gen fighter in the world at the moment, with Nigeria, Myammar, Argentina and Saudi Arabia showing interest. It is our most strategic air defence asset
whose ultimate purpose will be to defeat hostile planes that violate Nigeria's airspace in combat.
The NAF has plans to aquire as many as 36 planes in the near future.
What we are looking at is the largest and most capable air force in Sub Saharan Africa, far outstripping its nearest rival, the South African airforce in numbers, combat experience and on par qualitatively.
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France is closing 2023 with a diminished presence in the restive Sahel region and Al-Qaeda is livid with rage against the putchist in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, going as far as calling them trecherous.
The leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb recently released a 22 minutes tape where he branded the new military rulers of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali "treacherous"and called on the citizens of these countries to turn on their leaders.
Why is AQIM upset about the French exit
from the Sahel and lashing out at the junters? It's bad for business.
The supply of money and weapons has come under threat. They've been raking in millions thanks to the geopolitical aspirations of a former colonial power determined to maintain a strategic foothold in Africa.
Nigeria gave France 48 hours to close down its Embassy in Lagos and to pack out of the country in retaliation against France exploding three nuclear devices in the Sahara despite vehement protests by Nigeria and other newly independent
African countries. Nigeria also banned French ships and aeroplanes from calling at her ports. The French Embassy in Lagos remained shut until October 1965. This unprecedented demonstration of power and resolve by an African country was a source of worry for France.
The French were worried that the size and potential strength of Nigeria might lead to a re-orientation of French West African countries away from France and towards Nigeria. Paris was preoccupied with the re-establishment and preservation of French imperial power which had been
For the NAF to transform it's self from a tactical, defensive force within Nigeria to one capable of strategic missions beyond territorial borders we need to up our numbers game.
The NAF already has the quality based on current and projected platforms.
A decade+ long insurgency, that necessitated on-going reforms changed the NAF's equipment priorities, from modernizing high tech hardware to platforms optimized for COIN and network-centric warfare.
The air force has progressed considerably towards building
and fielding a formidable force, and has assumed responsibilities that accompany the projection of national power in the sub region.
Only problem is the limited number of air superiority fighters. The smallest number of fighters in decades.
Still feeling under the weather 🤕. It gets worse as evening approaches.
However, after going through the comment section I've decided it's time to make the case for an ECOWAS intervention in Niger before analysing the capabilities of the potential belligerent of this crises.
ECOWAS weak response to recent coup 'd'etats paved the way for what is now a belt of dictatorships that stretches all the way from Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali and now Niger. They plotters gained the perception that ECOWAS is weak and could be challenged.
Failure of the regional bloc to respond militarily gave them the perception that they can push ECOWAS further without ramifications.
The latest coup in Niger has fundamentally changed the region. A new cold war between democratic states and military junta's...
In 1983 Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari, GOC of the 3rd Division in Jos flushed out Chadian forces that invaded Nigerian communities in dramatic fashion. 40 years later he presides over what is arguably the biggest military build-up in Nigeria's history.
The President realised the nation was in need of an overhaul of the military. Nigeria had been humiliated in the early stages of the insurgency and the terrorists seemed secure in their unrelenting mission of conquest. Boko Haram captured and occupied 22 LGA's in the northeast.
The Nigerian military was plagued by low morale, low pay, outdated equipment, and zero maintenance on what did exist. Soldiers were tired. It just wasn't worth it to them. There were instances of soldiers refusing to fight. Some fleeing to Cameroon on two occasions.
NAF A-29 with its panoply of GBU Paveway II laser guided bombs, 70mm rockets with Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) and 589 kilogram bombs. The cutting edge of American precision guided munitions and the NAF is the only in sub-sahara Africa to employ them.
The GBU paveway II integrates the most advanced guidance system that basically converts "dumb" Gravity bombs into precision guided munitions. A semi-active laser seeker and pneumatically controlled canards guide the weapon to its targets with pin point accuracy.
Enter the hydra rockets.
In their basic configurations these are basic 70mm unguided rockets. Not different from unguided rockets used by the L-39ZA or Alpha jets.
However the APKWS they came with transforms these "dumb" rockets into laser-guided weapons.