The vastness of the Sambisa and other forest proved to be a double edged sword. The vast featureless terrain and someitmes thick jungle canopies offered concealment and gaves insurgents enough room to manoveur. Someitmes they even attacked troops head-on.
After getting into a conventional battle with the army insurgents learned to stick to the tactics they know best : hit and runs, ambushes and surprise attacks. The vast topography gave insurgents the ability to blend into their surroundings and conceal operations.
One advantage the Nigerian army has is in terms of firepower from air support and artillery. Insurgents tried to negate this advantage on the battlefield by hitting Nigerian infantry units when it is most advantageous to them.
Often, they will wait until the troops were yards away in the least visible sections of jungle before opening up on them. Causing maximum damages before disappearing. Troops soon learned to steer clear off the forests all together, especially at night. Instead field commanders
will attempt to turn the strength of the enemy (vast uninhabited expanse of land) into its weakness and turn their enclaves into a death trap.
To this end field artillery units took up firing positions around the vicinity of interest with ISR planes crisscrossing the forest.
If spotted by ISR aircafts its game over. ISR aircafts, most notably the ATR-42 and King Air 359i flew round the clock reconnaisance missions. Their job was to search out and locate enemy positions and relay target coordinates to air and ground units.
With no concern for collateral damages and firing from afar, Nigerian troops sacrificed accuracy for sheer volume. Artillery shells rain down with a menacing whistle and turned a field of green earth into a lifeless charred deadzone.
With a kill zone of a 100 metres, each shell was eliminating all life within the size of a football field. They pound their position to soften them up for landing.
Troops who move in for mop up operations in the hopes they will see action are sometimes disappointed, as often times there are no survivors.
..just a desolate wasteland ans raging fire spanning hundreds of metres.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
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.