NAF Agusta A109 LUH military helicopter
DAILY TRUST
Abuja
Friday, 11 May 2012
AS the Nigerian Air Force gets set to test its air capability, tight security has been mounted in Kaduna, venue of the event. Also, foreign ministers of defence and chiefs of defence staff of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are attending the five-day event, the Air Expo 2012, beginning from next Tuesday.
The chairman, organising committee of the Air Expo 2012, Air Commodore Rufus Ojuawo, who disclosed this on Thursday, while briefing newsmen, said the air show was fashioned after Fanborough and Paris air shows in United Kingdom (UK) and France.
Beegeagle's Blog 
Sorry guys, I am bracing myself for disappointment. Thus far, we have shown ourselves, to be a nation that individually excels, but collectively under achieves.
Hope I am proven wrong.
AIR EXPO should be held in Abuja. Better accommodation, better access and foreign companies feel their staff much safer deployed in Abuja than in Kaduna.
I just wish the Nigerian Airforce can pull a surprise by displaying airframes we were never aware they posses but anyway goodluck to the nigerian airforce. They will need a lot of it
@doziex, I’m sorry, I have to say that I agree with you. Here is a stinger for everyone 77% of black doctors in the united states of america are nigerian. Individually as nigerians we excel, but collectvely as a group smh……. It is sort of “how can a group of people be so intelligent,and yet so stupid at the same time”. This is the ugly truth.
Only concern i have is the high rate of crashes of the recently acquired F-7. Just goes to show the sad extents to which our pilots’ skills have declined. Anyway God dey sha.
Are this augusta luh armed and also are the A 109E of the navy armed also?
Lets wait and see guys, I hgope it will be a good show and the security is tight
Hmmm… if NAF AirExpo 2012 does not surprise us with new NAF acquired a modern high performance long-range fighter jet,then i will beg to say our guys are not serious about our national security interest!
The one benefit of this air expo is that questions will be asked of Nigeris , that in light of what is going onin her neck of the woods i.e. Neighbourhood why doesnt she have larger airframes i.e su27/30s MIG 29s or even F15/16/18s.
Nigeria can”t trot out some more F7:( .
We hope to be surprised we will also pay close attention especially as to what g.e.j will say at this expo.
What is wrong with our leaders ? are they not aware that a weak nation is a useless one ? I promise all, if not for the strength of Iran they would have been attacked by Isreal and the US long ago.
@MAKANAKY,you are very correct.The US and Isreal would have attacked Iran if not that she is very militarily.
@MAKANAKY,you are very correct.The US and Isreal would have attacked Iran if not that she is very poweq militarily.
Fellow warriors,
If what they will show is the Augusta, Mi-24, ATRs, and the F-7s, it will be very very bad. Nothing short of Mig 29 or Su 27 will be acceptable to Nigerians nows.
Those F7 are “Flying coffins”. I said it wayback in 2005. No matter how “westernised” the avionics are, its still the airframe of the 1965 Mig 21 Fishbed.. Please lets call a spade what it is. IT IS A SPADE!
Every night i say a prayer for the brave boys that are flying those things.
Mr President, we are notasking for SAAB Grippen, not Eurofighter 2000, not F-15 Eagle of F-16 Falcon. Please give us the Su-27 sir.
Thank you sir.
@spirit, you are right on the money. As one blogger opined on some asian blog some years back concerning our “upgraded” F-7NI, ” Put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig”.
That for me, encapsulates our whole unfortunate F-7NI saga.
We are about to bother the aviation industry, with air expo 2012, and make a big stink about, and attract attention to our crashing F-7s, our handful of refurbished jet trainers and some helics.
At a time when angola flys 8 su-27s & 12 su-24s and much more. Eritrea: mig-29s,su-27s&su-25s, ethiopia: su-27s,su-25s,mig-23s/21s, sudan: 2 sqns of mig-29s, su-25s and in the hunt for su-27s, uganda: 6 su-30mk2s, the most advanced jet in black africa. Kenya: F-5 upgrades & 16 mi-28 havoc attack helics.
Others like namibia: F-7, zambia: 12 mig-21s(isreali upgrades) & 12 K-8 jet trainers,
zimbabwe: 30 F-7ii/mgs, 6 mig-23s,12 k-8s and 12 hawks and chad: with 6 to 8 su-25s & 5
mi-24s AT LEAST MATCH WHAT NAF HAS AVAILABLE.
AND PLEASE LETS NOT BRING UP SOUTH AFRICA & THE NORTH AFRICANS(#no basis for comparism)
I AM AFRAID THAT NIGERIA THRU OUR MYOPIC AND IGNORANT LEADERSHIP, ARE ONCE
AGAIN, BEING SET UP FOR INTERNATIONAL RIDICULE.
Are this augusta luh armed and also are the A 109E of the navy armed also?……………
@Tim, my hunch is that they are set up to be armed as needed.
Beeg, showed pics of the naval variants, operating off NNS Thunder. Those should be at least equipped for SAR & ASW roles.
Some are being used for helicopter training. possibly to replace the problem prone MI-34 helic trainers.
But when the initial delivery took place, they said it was for operations in the niger delta. But
armed with rocket pods&machine guns or not, the A109E is too thin skinned to operate as a
dedicated attack helicopter.
Dem NVA & MEND folk will blow it out the skies with RPG,PKM & 12.5mm AAA fire.
Sorry about my delayed response, Tim. I have only just seen this.
The Agusta A109 LUH are purpose-built military variants built in South Africa. They are built at the Agusta Plant in South Africa and are built to carry 12.7mm HMGs and 68mm rockets. The big idea about going for those, after they had taken on a pair of Agusta A109e Power for evaluation purposes, was because they are purpose-built ARMED helicopters, perhaps a step forward from the armed Bo-105s of yore.
Find below a photo of a naval Agusta A109e Power which are typically supposed to handle SAR, observation and possibly, ASW roles but that one appears to have a sheathed 12.7mm HMG, a 68mm rocket pod or a rotary multi-barrel gun on the starboard side.
Check this out to be sure.