Tavor rifle-wielding Special Forces of the Nigerian Air Force AFISMA Contingent in Niamey, Niger
Nigerian Air Force special warfare troops, NAF Regiment infantrymen and aircrews in Niamey, Niger
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Beegeagle's Blog 
This our Air Force strong ooo…..Under this hot sun some guys dey fit wear cardigan…Choi
It all depends on the time of day. Niamey lies on the same latitude as Sokoto and Katsina.
In sahelian West Africa, the days are hot and the nights and mornings can be very cold. That is why you hear rather frequent reports of street people dying of hypothermia in places such as Kano and places to the north.
You might have noticed that Malian troops operating alongside the French almost all wear cardigans and jackets for very similar reasons.
Sorry to say this, but for special forces, these troops are terribly kitted, no knee/ elbow pads, no secondary ammo, can’t spot any webbing e.t.c, but in the other sets of photos, i saw them with huge bags, so i hope thats where all their gear is, because i don’t really think they can go out to the battle front looking like that
their helmet is what annoys me…must Nigaria airforce be backward in everything?
i was also going to comment on that, for christ’s sake they are wearing what i think to be vietnam war era helmets,
It does not work out like that, BossJoe. These guys were not deploying for battle. Tis just a muster p’rade to listen to the visiting NSA and CDS…period, end of story. Special Forces dress down too. It is not a banner that one wears to sleep.
Take a look at the guy in blue fatigues saluting in the background. That is a SBS commando making an everyday appearance. Where are the kneepads, webbing and all that?
The fact that a man is SF does not mean that he has to prance about 24-7 like a rehearsed masquerade. Not even in the USA!
But oga beeg the helmet is very poor showing
Yeah, I don’t dig the helmets. But all the same, I had to let it be known that I have seen SF chaps with three years of aggregated training who are less dressed up than these – just camo pants, a black t-shirt and a black monogrammed baseball cap.
They cannot come out kitted up in webbing, side arms, kneepads and all that EVERYTIME. That would be quite unreal.
With the way they are kitted, the army should come take away their rifles and hand them AK-47’s or G3’s. Terrible kitting all in all. The helmet looks like they were just picked up from the lagos war museum. There absolutely is no excuse for them.
I beg to differ with OGA beeg. Special forces personnels always look smart, they know the amount of hours they’ve put in to get where they are. Also The shining vests is a no no, this is not the 14th century.
The guy saluting in the background is smartly dressed and looks very fit. The airforce gets a huge thumbs down from me. My hope is that the army fazes out the ak-47 and acquire improved variants of the AK series, or something like what the police are using.
“The guy saluting in the background is
smartly dressed and looks very fit.”
My point exactly – but he does not have anything like webbing, kneepads and sidearms. Nobody dresses up like that 24-7 just to show SF competence.
I am not saying they need to look like robocops all the time. If the europeans do not dress up like that all the time. However, that those not excuse the fact that the NAF chaps are poorly dressed.
Must dey always luk mean n coverd up b4 u guys r satified? I live here in Rumuorlumeni ph nd i frequent NNS PATHFINDER, i ave a barrack permit and gate pass, i do see d SBS chaps buh dey r alwes on black combat n polo wit d inscriptn SPECIAL FORCES wt a customised sandal n facecap. Aftall d Airforce guys aint in a heat scenario.
Thank you. That is all I am saying. They do not have to look like the parade ground every minute that they are spotted with cumbersome gear – perhaps with NVG at midday just to prove SF combatancy.
I have been to nns pathfinder a few times myself and I understand what you mean.
I think we really need to outline our full combat kitting. Sometimes u see some soldiers on knee/elbow guards while other don’t wear same. Can it be personal effort? Maybe. I also observed differences in ballistics vests and painfully, men wearing helmets not strapped, no webbing nor sign of support kits .
These disparities no matter how small tells a whole lot about our military. I believe full combat kitting starts with the helmet well strapped, fragment vest, knee/elbow guards and support items neatly fitted. The helmet alone is another area bcos u could attach dust/shaded glasses, night vision, mini torch, communication head line, laser beam pointer.
Soldiers on light role could wear jungle instead. If we improve on this it will boost the face of the Nigerian forces.
G8T, I doubt that anyone can have any quarrel with standardisation, regimentation and having the full complement of items assigned to each and every operator.
My argument is about this fixation with flashing every item in the kitty all the time. So it would not matter that it is noon. They just have to appear with night vision goggles.
I thought SF chaps dress up for operations? Does that not suggest that they are at other times dressed down?
Perhaps my friend BossJoe took it for granted that they are on the cusp of getting launched into action. No, they are not.
Oga beeg i wanted to ask yesterday, what is the role of the NAF chaps? 300 no be small number oh!
True that, Camouflage1984.
The 15,000-strong NAF have a significant land warfare component which I would estimate at 2,000 in number.
– NAF Regiment; an infantry unit which is similarly deployed for JTF(Niger Delta), JSTF(northern Nigeria) and STF(Jos Plateau) operations. When the JSTF was formed in 2011, 500 men of the NAF Regiment were drafted in for duty. That gives an idea of their strength in numbers
– the National Air Defence Corps; an anti-aircraft artillery unit
– the new special operations Quick Response Force
All of the foregoing would have been mixed into that pool with men of the NAF Regiment being the predominant component – perhaps two companies backed up by a platoon of SF chaps, then a platoon-sized contingent of pilots,ground control, flight engineers/technicians and AA gunners.
I wonder how this things are been done.how does the Army,Airforce and navy recruite this special forces?are they specially recriuted or selected from…another thing again.can a cadet from the academy be recruited to this special forces?am sure that every one on this blog apart from myself is well informed on this issues.please i really want to know
Special forces personnel are recruited from the pool of soldiers who have had tours of duty. All the personnel in the special forces of the army and navy have all served both in the country and abroad. Must of them in sudan, if you fail the selection process, you go back to being a regular soldier.
please can u describe selection process for the ARMY SFs, how long does it last? Where does it take place?
Yeah, speaking of the National Air Defence Corps of the Nigerian Air Force, we could do with some of these decent SHORAD systems going forward.
Yitian SHORAD is guided by the thermal imaging sight and a 3-D X- band radar which can track fighter- sized aircraft from 18 km and a cruise-missile target from 8 km.
Comprises of 2 quad launchers equipped with TY-90 (Tian Yan ) surface-to-air missile with range of range of 500-6,000 m
Anyone know which radar NAF has deployed for air defence ? i remember when my old man was in service they brought in the Thomson CSF Tiger TRS 2215 & 2230 3D Radar from France, It was state of the art back then in 1980…..
I am new to the blog and you guys are sure doing a good job…
Welcome to the blog.
No PASGT/kelvar helmet, no tactical vest, no knee pads, no NVGs. Na wa o.
I think you guys should relax with all these fancy stuff I.e. knee pads, nvgs, tactical vests, webbing. Soldiers came out to salute top brass visitors so what’s all the noise about? Those stuff
Contd, Computer issues. An SF operator is made by the quality of his training and quick tactical thinking ability. Even the tavor they are carrying do not make them SF operators neither do the helmets and for all I care they carry AKs and wear berets, try the British SAS. Please let’s focus on real stuff not fancy stuff.
@ Deway, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING fancy about the kits I mentioned. It’s absolutely unfair that these NAF SF operators have not been issued these. They’re not even issued sides arms (actual primary weapons for Spec. Ops operators) and still use Vietnam era steel helmet! And I must say that the very gear they wear in these pics are the very same worn during their initial deployment from Port Harcourt, ‘xcept the cardigans of course. Even the Army’s infantry units deployed were better kitted with their Dolphin Maron tactical vests, camelback water system, and chinese copies of the PASGT.
Lol! Look at the guy on blue uniform in the extreme edge, it looks like he is wearing a canvas. by now Nigeria should have pass the stage of outfitting its military personnels with proper apparels.
Oh.i tink am begining to understand.so,this pple are selected from the soldiers that do battle day to day.hmmm.i used to tink they are being selected from the academy.so even academy cadets dont get to become a special force?bt…even the SBS too?but i thought this special forces soldiers were supposed to be learned people.and now 1 dont get to be specal force unless he is a recriut.do they even heve female special force soldier?how,where and when is the selection process being carried out?there are plenty of baracks in many parts of the nation so,there must be a specific place for this selection.please again,help quench ma tastes for answers.thanks oga Henry.Gratitude.
There are no female special forces members and as regards selection process, where, when and how, I’m not privy to that sort of information. However, the guys in the army and navy receive some of the best training, and conduct joint trainings with some of the worlds best special forces teams (us navy seals 4 and 10, the british , isreali army special forces, pakistani SSG et al).
There’s no female special force soldier for real?damn.bt..the state minister for defence;i ve seen pictures of her here on this blog and it was said that she was training with army special forces.so now female dont get to be…damn shit.anyway,it was good dat 1 knew ahead of time. Thanks mr henry.u ve been rilly helpful.ve been hoping to seek audience with some1 active on this blog but even gen beeg himself must ve been entangled with loads of work.am rilly grateful mr henry.thanks.
You apply for selection…..and if you pass selection, you under go training.
You can become a special force as an officer not only as a rating or rank and file,I know a couple of officers that after their commisioning from NDA,went onto SBS selection and passed,infact I know one that went on training with SWCC of the US navy,that works closely with Navy seals,infact it is the guy I suspect that gives henry his pictures.
Who is this eagle 1, funny! I proposed dat name for the nigerian presidential jet. Well, a SF personnel shd be dreaded by sight and from the pix it shows we re forgetting many things or we choose to ignore them. Personally i have not seen any foreign SF team wearing an all round combat helmet, its usually those with elevation ard the ears or combat head guard with linings. From the pix, apart from the rifle, they re just airmen simple. Funny engh those in front rank looks different from others in the rear. Uniformity, kitting and agility shd be d key.
Secondly, special Forces shd not be seen anyhow bcos when they re out then its surely to destroy enemy forces. I think the NN is better of
The issue of helmet shouldn’t be a big deal after all not that they are goin straight into action like this,its just for the parade and most country hardly parade their special force for the public and lastly to be sincere I don’t think any of our military component or outfit should still b rocking this type of “Private Ryan” helment……..kudos to great contributors on the blog,more firepower to your armours.
Lest I forget sir I want to ask,I don’t the reason for the 300 spartans deployment to Niger not to Mail.
LOL..or General S Patton helmet
@eagle1. You can become a special forces operative as an officer not only as a rating or rank and file,I know a couple of officers that after their commisioning from NDA,nwent onto SBS selection and passed. Infact I know one that went on training with SWCC of the US Navy, that works closely with Navy SEALs. Infact it is the guy I suspect that gives Henry his pictures.
I remembr wen i was wit ma grandma in her place at d heat of d Niger Delta insurgency, 2 NAF MI35s, i call dm COBRA landed at d LGA playground, i remembr d helios hoverd round d town twice b4 landing, mehn it was an earth tremor, i culdnt imagn d strenght of d helios, we all dn rushd 2 c it, it was a wnderful day, der i fell in luv wit Nigerian Millitary.