Thread by @DefenseNigeria

It is someitmes easy to forget how incredibly vast the forests of the northeast/west are. The Sambisa forest alone is over 66,000 square km, or simply put 12 times the size of Lagos. There are forests of equally vast proportions in the northwest.

It will require six 40 kiloton nuclear warheads to wipe out all of Sambisa. There were simply not enough troops to execute the classic sweep and block maneuver required to attack insurgents and try prevent their escape.

One should not underestimate the logistical difficulty and danger of deploying even specially trained troops into hostile territory so vast insurgents have enough space and time to set up defences and traps. Landing zones for helicopters would have certainly come under fire.

..and drop zones for paratroopers into unfamiliar territory would have been a reckless endeavour. There was only one viable option :

Air Power backed with Precision Guided Bombs.

As far back as 2017 the Nigerian military realized that precision bombs and overwhelming airpower was the only viable way in smoking out and dispersing insurgents, thereby opening the way for troops to interdict and cut them down.

The only way Nigeria could aquire precision guided munitions suitable for such task was from the United States. The NAF could have easily aquired the Super Tucanos from Brazil at a much reduced cost. But the it needed those precision guided munitions from the United States.

This silver bullet, out of sight, out of sound will rain down devastation on insurgents the likes of which they have never experienced and can never prepare for.

That's why Abuja was willing to part with half a billion dollars and endure years of humiliation and delays. It was worth it. Without robust airpower Nigeria would have been locked into a bitter and protracted war of attrition. A very costly endeavor in material & human lives

The A-29, JF-17 Thunder and now WL-2 and CH-4 armed attack drones will make resisting the Nigerian military an exercise in futility for insurgents. Sure they will go after soft targets and make headlines. Still won't alter the tactical reality of the battlefield.