Thread by @DefenseNigeria

So someone is asking why we are against Emmanual Macrons proposal for a Franco-Nigeria security framework in the Lake Chad basin and greater Sahel region. The question is, WHERE these threats are emanating from?

Terrorist groups do not operate in a vacuum. Neither do they materialize out of thin air. How in the world are terrorist groups proliferating in the most militarized region of the continent with 17 military installations spread among the two most powerful nations in the west?

December 23, 2019.

France carried out a drone strike killing 40 terrorists in central Mali. The drones were launched from Niamey Niger, where France has three drones and a Squadron of Mirage fighters.

July 2018. The U.S. deploys another SIX MQ-9 Reaper drones and 800 Special Forces troops to its new $100 million drone base in Agadez. Reflecting U.S. concerns about rising militancy in West Africa. Sometimes its confusing who runs these bases, the USAF or the CIA? BOTH?

.because here we see an MQ-9 Reaper at a base in Dirkou, Niger, used by the CIA. An airstrip being extended at a drone base in Dirkou, Niger as of March 2021, the paving of the airstrip means it is being extended for more capacity.

September 2018. The US/CIA announces its decision to launch drone strikes against ISIS, Al-Qaeda and their affiliates from bases in northeast Niger. So the Pentagon operates a base in Niamey, 800 miles of Dirkou, from which it can launch strikes against Libya based jihadists,

..and another one in Agadez, 80 miles from Nigeria from which it can hit Boko Haram, or 36 miles from Lac Province from which it can hit ISWAP bases.

September 2019. The U.S launches four drone strikes against fighters in southern Libya, killing43 militants or about one third of the group’s estimated 150 fighters in Libya, including some important commanders and recruiters.

January 2021. The U.S conducts two drone strikes killing three Alshabaab terrorists in Jamaame and Deb Scinnele, Somalia from bases in Niger.

July 2021. The US conducted drone strikes against Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab jihadists from bases in Niger.

Influenced by U.S precedent, France realises there are ways to reap the strategic benefits of armed drones in the Sahel while avoiding the political fallout. So not to fall behind its western allies France deploys six more Block 1 Reaper drones to Niger for Operation Barkhane.

This list is not comprehensive enough but let's use this as a template. As you can see not a single strike on Boko Haram or ISWAP in Chadian territory in five years. Not ONE.

By 2020 the euphoria that came in 2016 with the staging of these drones so close to home has faded

..as it becomes evident U.S and French drone bases are not here to help Nigeria's war on terror. They simply use Niger and Chad as Forward Operating Bases to compete with Russia and Turkey in Libya...you know, put an eye on things.

With this realization Nigeria has no option but to aquire its own armed attack drones. The widespread global arming of drones confirms that this is a key capability of tomorrow’s fighting and Nigeria wi not be left behind.

Four Wing Loong II, two CH-4s, two CH-3B and 4 CH-3s

..for a total of 14 armed attack drones. Nigeria will effectively be the only country competing with the U.S and France in the area of armed attack drones in the region, second only to the U.S in numbers with more drones than France.

Contemplate how beneficial it will be for our francophone brothers in West Africa if Nigeria can provide the capability the U.S and France brings to the table.

Nigeria has specific strategic needs for this capability. First, it would offer an economy of resources, as armed drones carry out both sensor and effector functions, thereby sparing manned aircraft, highly solicited for operations elsewhere in the country.

An armed drone can cover the entire kill chain (find, fix, track, target, engage, assess). Remember the Nigerian military is fighting an enemy scattered in an extremely vast and hostile area of tens of thousands of square kilometers in every geopolitical zone of the country.

Having a chance of success requires both aerial occupation, or persistence in flight which only drones can offer. You cannot keep a pilot airborne for 24 hours everyday. It matter not how advanced the plane is. Pilots can kill the enemy without risking their lives.

To cap it all. Events in the last 5 years makes talks of joint cooperation with Paris to combat insecurity in the Lake Chad basin mute. They've had the element of power in place for FIVE YEARS. France has been in Mali for 9 years. What exactly do they have to offer Nigeria

that they couldn't have done years back? No intel sharing because they do not trust the Nigerian government. Thats fine. But yapping for years about the ISWAP threat in West Africa to drum up support, and then do absolutely nothing but watch as ISWAP converts parts of Chad into

an unsinkable aircraft carrier to launch attacks on Nigeria and use it as a safe haven, when all it will take to seriously disrupt the terrorist groups effort to reorganize and carry out attacks in Nigeria is to not share real estate with them. Deny them sanctuary.

Rather than launch strikes on ISWAP camps near their bases they never miss an opportunity to slam Nigeria with human rights bombs and threats of sanctions and delaying the release of assets, interfering in the internal affairs of ECOWAS, turning members against each other

..hijacking and sabotaging the ECOWAS Single Currency Project the ECO after years of planning. These are the same guys offering to work with Nigeria to combat insecurity in Lake Chad when we know a peaceful and stable West Africa is not in the best interest of France.

..a country that has been efficiently defending its interests in francophone countries through cultural and economic power, coupled with dozens of covert actions to overthrow leaders that refused to preserve France’s interests.

France has used mercenaries, the most famous being Bob Denard, who participated in dozens of attempted coups in Africa and did hundreds of covert actions for various French governments, both left and right wing.