A tracked Steyr 4K 7FA APC of the Nigerian Army
BEEGEAGLE’S BLOG
2 March, 2015
Ever since the Nigerian Civil War era when the refusal by traditional partners forced the Nigerian Armed Forces to diversify the sources for the procurement of military hardware, Nigeria has maintained a policy of multiple-source procurement till date.
Before the July 6th, 1967 start of the Nigerian Civil War, the Nigerian Armed Forces only fielded Panhard AML armoured cars, US-made 105mm howitzers, British-made Saladin armoured cars, Ferret scout cars and Saracen APCs; German Do-28 planes and Italian Piaggio trainers; Swiss Oerlikon and Swedish Bofors anti-aircraft guns, Carl Gustaf and Bazooka anti-tank weapons; a Dutch-built frigate and British-made Ford class gunboats.
With the refusal to sell arms and replenishable stock to the Nigerians, the Federal Military Government of a young General Yakubu Gowon courageously and decisively commenced the diversification of the sources of armaments needed to prosecute the raging Nigerian Civil War.
Starting with the Nigerian Air Force in August/September 1967, the Gowon regime very swiftly acquired squadrons of pre-owned MiG 15 and MiG 17 fighter jets, Ilyushin Il-28 Beagle bombers and L29 Delfin light attack jets. For the Nigerian Navy, a triad of Komar torpedo boats were acquired from Russia while the Nigerian Army swooped on ZSU-23-4 self-propelled artillery and 122mm gun-howitzers, among other infantry support weapons.
Inadevertently, the arms embargo had opened a door which has not closed after 48 years. Somehow, it all seems like deja vu as Nigeria’s ‘traditional partners’ have again refused to sell arms to Nigeria and the incumbent Federal Government has immediately acceded to wise counsel and turned to more reliable sources for armaments.
Over the course of the past eighteen months, the Nigerian Armed Forces have signed contracts for and/or taken delivery of
– Streit Spartan Mk.3 APCs from the UAE, BigFoot MRAPs
– Infantry support weapons, a modified Type 062 gunboat and P18N stealth OPVs, M28 recce UAVs and armed CH-3A drones from China;
– T84 Oplot tanks, BTR-4 IFVs,modernised T72 AV tanks and weaponised Mi-17 and upgraded Mi-35 assault/attack helicopters from Ukraine;
– BVP-1 IFVs, RM-70 122mm MRLS and T72 M1 tanks from the Czech Republic
– new Mi-35M and Mi-171Sh Terminator attack/assault helicopters from Russia
– Armed Gazelle scout helicopters from an unknown source.
– upgraded Mi-24V/Mi-35P attack helicopters from Belarus
Let us now focus on the main thrust of this writeup – standardisation of army equipment.
Now, even as the aforementioned systems appear to come from a plethora of sources, there is a noticeable degree of uniformity and interoperability which bodes well for logistical support, such as has not been the case before now.
Before now, the Nigerian Army already had in operation tracked Steyr and MT-LB APCs from Austria and Russia; EE-9 Cascavel AFVs and EE-11 Urutu APCs from Brazil; T55 tanks, BM-21 MRLS, 122mm gun-howitzers and 130mm guns from Russia; APR-21 MRLS and M81/85 152mm howitzers; Panhard VBL scout cars, M3 APCs and AML 60/90/Sagaie AFVs from France; Oto Melara 105mm and 155mm SP artillery from Italy, Swedish GDF-02 35mm AA artillery, Chinese Type 90 35mm AA artillery, BTR-3 APCs and IFVs from Ukraine, MOWAG and British-made Scorpion light tanks, Spartan APCs and Vickers Mk.3 MBTs.
It goes without saying that a combination of the existing and the incoming, collectively pose a logistical nightmare for those saddled with the task of keeping these systems operational. Without further encumbering the army logisticians and engineers, here is what I believe we should do to maintain that policy of varying the sources of hardware while keeping the associated requirement for spares and maintenance as simple as possible.
Personally, I have my views on what the way forward should be. In order not to pre-empt anyone however, let me keep those views to myself until you have stated yours.
Beegeagle's Blog 
Sirs to me the answer is simple just look to the Indians and follow their example. Tech transfer must be included in major arms deals. Let’s drag our country into reckoning
We have to start at the beginning:
A) Enumerate our requirements and analyze.
B) Based on the analysis, design the solutions to our requirements.
C) Establish Doctrine.
D) Identify equipment types and Classify identified equipment types.
E) Publicize identified equipment types (this necessary for local manufacture)
F) Establish general guidelines for defeating embargos.
G) Start the selection process for equipment makes and models, baring in mind already existing equipment.
To be continued.
Supported:
Policy to Threat Assessment/Analysis to Requirements to Defence Strategy to Equipment required to effect defence strategy to Equipment classification to Equipment Standardization.
In doing all these, don’t ‘re invent the wheel, copy ways of doing every step from established best practices. Most advanced countries have Military Standard MIL Specs that we can copy liberally from and localize.
We need to standardize at the sub assembly and component level and not equipment level. This is heavy work but is unnecessary because most OEM s have become mere assemblers and system integrators of sub assemblies and components.
This topic is a serious matter. Wish the 2014 army arsenal audit was made public, also wish all new weapons/equipment acquisitions 2014-2015 were made public. Well, my Ogas all know where to start based on what is already revealed on this blog. Take the floor honorable gentleman. We need to speak out for Nigeria, we are that Nigeria, you and I.
i think u shoud standardize to 105mm and 155mm artillary guns
1.105mm guns are light weight,can be transported by helis and can be used by special forces
and in direct fire role they can defeat armour also.
plus they can be mounted on vehicles for shoot and scoot mission.
2.155mm gun are now the standard in the world of artillary hence there is easy avaibility of various types of ammo both guided and unguided.plus u can expect much better support for various fire control systems and electronics.
priority shuld be be to up gun the 130mm guns to 155 mm
there are lot of vendors providing such upgrades courtesy of the indian army upgrade program.
http://defence.pk/attachments/d717bcffdfa2523b477deedd80cad2ef-jpg.64815
this one is 155mm/45cal (M46 upgrade) by Kalyani with Israeli collaboration
by the way u had bought 155mm 39 calibre bofors guns . u can upgrade it to 52 calibre for better range.
india has upgraded it to 45 calibre and provided it with new electronics and fire control systems enabling to work in a networked battlefield environment.
new electronics and fire control system for danush 155mm 45 calibre bofor guns
If you don’t have a good defence industry, forget about standardisation. It is a fallacy.
In Nigeria, not even our military uniforms are uniform. There are least 5 different camo patterns currently been used in the north east for the Army alone. The Navy and Airforce camo complete the horror show. Standardisation is a serious problem in the armed forces of Nigeria.
Standardisation programme for Nigeria.
1) 30% local content input in the military. This is sacrosanct as we cannot even begin to talk about standardisation in the military without a strong local industry to help us achieve our loft dreams. DICON cannot, and has shown it is short hand to fill this gap alone. DICON requires money…….. lots of money to meets it’s target, more so is expertise. The Agency is also lacking in the area of expertise.
A Country as like Nigeria needs at-least 4 Defence contractors working and doing business in Nigeria. 4 big companies would bring in the required investments, expertise and would be able to tap into Nigeria’s huge man-power resources.
Proforce Defence is a nice start for Nigeria, but for a country of our size, it is un-acceptable. The Company’s Flag ship APC is only an LAPV that is only capable of carrying 5 people. Proforce needs to grow as big as Streit group’s middle-east branch to be able to fit the requirements of Nigeria Defence needs. What this means is, along with it’s LAPV, the company should be able to manufacture LAV’s and MRAPs in sizeable numbers every month.
3 other companies like my Proforce projection, and smaller companies, All of them cutting across, mobility/ Kitting& uniforms/ Arms & ammunition/ Technology & electronic systems/ military servicing and components suppliers.
2) Nigeria needs a military standardisation Agency.
It’s job would also be to develop a standardisation document which is binding, and respected by all arms of the military.
The job of this Agency would also allow it to enforce standardisation across all branches of the military.
3) Defence /military tender
The Defence industry across the globe is prone to corruption and corruption related crimes. An open tender system would allow us weed out some of the corruption in the system. This in turn would enable the government save money, funds which can be further made available through the BOI for loans to the Defence companies operating in Nigeria.
These Open tenders should allow the military consult widely so we don’t get stuck with another F-7 fiasco.
*on manufacturing, it is not the job of the Army, navy or Airforce to be producing IGIRIGI’s, boats or drones as the projects often time may not be sustainable. Concept however can be created in-house, but the job of bringing these concepts to life must be out-sourced to actual manufacturers.
This is my 3 point Agenda for military standardisation in Nigeria.
Yessir!!!
NA. Needs a military standardization agency.
Seconded.
OGA BEEGS
I am at INITIAL GLANCE going to take a CONTRARY VIEW
Within Limits, I know this sounds horribly expensive but we have to learn to some painful lessons from the boko haram experience, remember no permanent friends no permanent enemies.
Till the be-headings of British and American Citizens.Nigeria was constantly being lectured by her so called ALLIES about how this WAR was not a WAR but it was about poverty and Human rights as such the two countries that Nigeria is intensely refused to blatantly to sell weapons, one ALLY was invited to help only to realize they were more of a hindrance than anything ELSE .
Nigeria has no friends nor Enemies as such they need to have a doctrine of Reliability.
If tomorrow America decides to sell Nigeria ABRAMS Tanks they should buy it, and on Wednesday if Russia wants to sell Nigeria T90S They need to rush it sounds unreasonable ? it is but relying on one Superpower to the detriment of the other is sheer MADNESS
What is madness?
QATAR has repeatedly been implicated by Egypt as being responsible for funding groups close to ISIS yet America still SELLS WEAPONS TO QATAR however Egypt can’t even get spare parts for her F-16s that is HEAD BANGING.
This is what happens when you STANDARDIZE and buy one type of LAV, IFV , OR MBT do not do it/ buy from one source.
Buy from multiple sources , tech your men how to repair different types of the same weapon and then finally GET INNOSON or PROFORCE to build the Nigerian version.
You are right about the pitfalls of being locked-in to any one primary weapon system.
That is why, before you buy, you must have an embargo policy – What happens if the gov’t of the primary supplier embargos sells of spares and new equipment.
But before everything else, you need to know you requirements, then all the other points that I have already listed.
in a way u all are right but the big question is
1.the cost factor
2.and all the logistic and spare nightmare.
will u be able to afford that .think about it.
look at the indian airforce it operates soviet/russian,european,israeli and american equipment .now this means they are getting the best of everything but the downside is that this has lead to increase in costs,maintenance and spares issues but IAFhaving learnt learnt their lessons is trying to maximize indigenious development of equipments for easy avaibility and low cost but it is going to take time and lots of money,no country will share their technology with anybody at the best they will give u out dated tech.
best for nigeria would be to
1.invest in their own defence industry in a big way
2.then start providing spares , maintenance to existing equipments
3.then go for inhouse upgradation programs
4.and finally use the acquired expertise to develop similiar / better products.it will be better to rope in some external help for providing collaboration and additional technical expertise.
That’s why I said tech transfer. We buy weapons with open architecture and we use ingenuity to solve other problems after all necessity is the mother of invention
with tech transfer also u cannot manufacture all the required items.items like high shock proof RAMs ,chips,controllers etc etc have to be sourced from other countries.no country will part with the know how.
many have started using COTS technology but ur system must have built in ports for these to work,they require lots of hi tech expertise to get them running and these can also be embargoed.
only countries like us, japan and to a smaller extent china is self sufficient.
its not that simple
in the field of tanks/MBRLs i suggest that
1. u convert the T 55 TANKS into heavy infantry fighting vehicles.add a remote contolled weapons station fitted with heavy calibre guns. it wil be very effective in breaching stongholds underfire or transporting troops underfire.u can have the upgrade fit similiar to the israeli NAMER HEAVY IFV.
2.to replace the t 55s u can buy more t 72s to add to the existing stock this will improve logistics and maintainence.u can upgrade the t 72s to T-72B3 standard It can be seen as a low-cost alternative to the T-72B2 Rogatka upgrade. Refurbished and upgraded tanks are fitted with new fire control system and other improvements. It has a hunter-killer capability.it has a more powerful engine, developing 1130 hp.also i think it It is fitted with Relikt third generation explosive reactive armor, which is much more effective than the Kontakt-5 ERA.
in future u can go for the t 90s.they will nicely complement the t 72s.
3.as for the British-made Scorpion light tanks and Vickers Mk.3 MBTs i think u should keep on using them untill they are phased out.no point in upgrading them
4. as for the BM-21 MRLS, APR-21/40 MRLS
i. upgrade the BM 21 into APR-21/40 MRLS for commonality.
ii.or better still upgrade the BM-21 MRLS and APR-21/40 MRLS to the LAROM standard which is being provided by the same vendor of APR-21/40.it was built in collaboration with Israel.
Those scorpion tanks are made of aluminium amour. Dont know what they were thinking. They things cant stop any projectiles over 7.62mm in calibre.
Best to write them off and move forward with something sturdier.
My Ogas
I know I’m not the only one concerned about the spate of bombings that has resumed in the wake of the recent military victories over BH. So let me contribute my 2 cents here on what I believe FG should be doing.
In most countries, Fighting Domestic terrorism requires the involvement of all internal law enforcement agencies. In our case this would and should include NPF, DSS, Civil defence corps, even the EFFC to trace their source of finance. We should begin to put in place a data processing center linking all internal enforcement agencies under one central ministry (internal affairs). We should develop a strong local intelligence in the affected regions and from the intel gathered begin to build a large information data base of anyone and everyone that have been radicalized or is radicalizing others; their history, family name, associates, location, family members.
BH was never going to be able to hold territories indefinitely against NA, but one thing they have perfected (second only to Al Queda ) is asymmetric warfare. We cannot afford to play down this part of the war or all the sacrifices our gallant men in uniform have made would amount to nothing. Now that the military have been and currently being equipped with all types of platforms for conventional and COIN warfare, its time for the FG to turn its attention to the internal enforcement agencies and begin investing money to effectively counter these bombing and terror.
Every local government should have a ‘rapid response team’ comprising of NPF, DSS, Civil defense, emergency management services and Local vigilantes. These RRTs should be centrally linked for effective information gathering and sharing. They should be properly equipped with vehicles, radios, phones, firearms, bomb disposal equipments and computers. The fighting at this level is more brains than brawns, there is nothing APCs or MRAPs can do against a young man that is determined to kill himself and others too.
Internal affairs should develop an early warning system based on daily intel collected to inform and advice the local populace on where or where not to go. This system can be color coded (eg. ‘Code red’, code purple’ etc). Eventually Nigerians will get used to these codes and how to respond in case of emergency. We may be winning the brawn war but we are yet to win the psychological war which is what BH is now using.
Preventing lone shark attacks is not a simple task, even CIA, Mossad and DGSE and other western intelligence have a hard time doing that. The lone shark attacks can not be portrayed as any form of victory, it rather shows that those using it are desperate. Also notice that preventing such attacks is not the role of the military, rather it is that of the police and the intelligence agencies. israel has perfected a system of preventing this kinds of attacks, i think it requires a computer system data of every citizen and close watching of the foreigners and also ordering the society in a way that makes intelligence gathering easy enough. Lone shark attacks are only meant to make us go crazy, and when news papers keep underligning them, it only serves the terrorists propaganda and makes them projects them with a might they do not have. The best for the civilian is to not pay too much attention to the reports of lone shark attacks and to rather listen to the reports coming from the DSS and the police about how best to prevent such attacks. What I see in any such attack is a sign that the terrorists are losing. Saying that you are worried about the loneshark attacks makes the terrorists happy. Don’t let yourself to be terrorized ! Remember how england reacted during the second world war, when hitler was in a terror-bombing campaign against them. They refused to be terrorized and that pained hitler so much. So refuse to be terrorized.
We already know how to maintain our Western armaments and should have spare parts stocks; also, our Western weapons are aging/obsolete.
We are buying more up to date weapons from the East, which means our maintenance must now incorporate eastern technology, which will then slowly become the only concern as the aging Western weaponry drops out of sight.
So, we would only have issues if we decide to stick to using our old Western weapons past their sell by dates; in which case, maintaining them would dangerously detract from a modernising drive. Who wants to know the skills of shaping a flint rock when they can purchase (and learn to sharpen) a steel knife.
I would suggest we begin phasing them out altogether and refitting them for other purposes as soon as their functions have been eclipsed by more capable new acquisitions. Here is an excerpt from something I posted elsewhere concerning the Vickers MBT:
“Our Vickers will only attract scrap value, there is no way we can get $100 million for them.
Instead. we can cannibalise them for their guns, electronics and other system to mount on more nimble vehicles; then repurpose the hulks for heavy duty work like mine clearing, bridge laying, bulldozing, or for target practice, some categories of war games etc. That way, phasing them out won’t be a loss.”
We can treat all other weapons similarly, that way they remain useful until they are truly dead. It will keep relics away from priority maintenance regimes and away from the war front (where they will be useless sitting ducks). This would also mean a gradual phasing out of current maintenance skills, while we take on the inevitable fresh skills.
We spend $6B a year on defence and security and have very little industry built around it.That says a lot.
Credit to Mr President though,there is light in this armour of darkness.
Patrol boats,LAVs’ and drones is a good start. There are a few thing we need to start focusing on though.
We new to get off our assess and starting building the things that make the world rotate.
Metallurgy.
We need foundries, small, medium,and large. Metal workshops with CNC machines for reproduction.
Electricity.
We need to start building generators and electric motors. Everything uses electricity,including warfare.
ICE:
Internal combustion engine.
The army runs on this. It is its horsepower.( the world runs on it too.)
CPU fabrication.
No computer, no speed.
Jet engines.
Victory from above.
Rocket engines.
Future wars is most likely going to be decided by the smallest,fastest,smartest missiles.
The key is to link the military industrial complex to its immediate home market,agriculture.
You build a weapon or platform, you find a use for it in agric.
We must not fall for the western trap of world standardisation. Where they set standards only they can meet in production and compel us to accept.
The first three major technology areas you itemized were in the National development plans of the eighties. We were going to do Ajaokuta, a collection of metallurgical foundry plants and most important with hindsight, an integrated electric motor and generator manufacturing plant and finally an engine manufacturing plant.
All these things were nit achieved including Ajaokuta . The motor and generator plants and engine building plants that were not done still brings tears to the eyes. At least we would have been using Nigerian made generators to back up NEPA now but sadly we have transferred about $500bn over 25 years to China, Japan and Korea on generator imports alone.
I agree with your seeing the connection with agricultural machinery. Start up a tractor manufacturing plant and you have the beginnings of a military vehicle manufacturing facility. Indeed at the rudimentary mechanical level, tank is nothing but a collection of components from a tractor and construction machinery plants with a big gun put inside it.
Gentlemen,
For the maintenance and BTR-3 APCs/IFVs, BTR-4 IFVs, BTR-80 APCs, MT-LB and T72 tanks, the Nigerian Army should enter into a 5-year maintenance contract with EXCALIBUR of the Czech Republic. During the course of the stipulated timeframe, all the technicians would have been trained to proficiency levels which should see them handling the assets with dexterity and without supervision.
– contract the Belgian firm which modernised Eland Mk.7s for Chad to do same for all 180 units of AML 6O/90 and retain them in frontline service. The Panhard M3s should be converted to battlefield ambulances.
– all 75 units of EE-9 Cascavel should also be modernised and retained in frontline service while the EE-11 Urutu should be converted to battlefield ambulances.
– the MOWAG APCs should be kept in reserve and deployed ONLY in non-arid zones when they are needed
– the CRVT series of tracked vehicles should also be modernised and retained in service bar the Spartan APCs which should be removed from service and kept in reserve.
– a contract to provide training support for the maintenance of all Swiss GDF-02 and the derived Chinese Type 90 35mm AA guns should be entered into with NORINCO of China while Poly Technologies Inc of China should also provide support for all BigFoot MRAPs over the corresponding period.
– EXCALIBUR should be contracted to modify all 129 units of T55 tanks as follows
* keep 24 units in reserve.
* convert 72 units to IFV carrying twin 30mm cannons. These should be used to equip four mechanised battalions.
* convert 24 units to bridge layers and other specialised engineering vehicles
* transfer 9 units to the Armoured, Engineering and Infantry Corps Centres as training assets
– of the 150 units of Vickers Mk.3 tanks
* keep 24 units in reserve
* get EXCALIBUR to upgrade 36 units by improving fire controls and adding ERA Kontakt armour. These 36 units should be used to equip two armoured battalions.
* 90 units should be converted to tracked IFVs with the addition of twin 30mm cannons. These should equip five mechanised battalions.
STANDARDIZATION AND ACQUISITIONS
* Whereas the BTR-3 and BTR-4 IFVs are millennium-era assets, they cost over US$1.2 million per unit and that means if we really seek to fully equip our infantry brigades with APCs, they might not be ideal. The imperative is that we seek a contemporary-era wheeled APC which is interoperable but not prohibitively priced. For that role, the 1990s vintage BTR-80A remains our best bet. But a new BTR-80A is still somewhat pricey. What we can do to get the best of all options is to acquire about 500 units of the BTR-80 (not BTR-80A) from Russian stocks for about US$125 million and and spend a further US$75 million to upgrade them all to BTR-80A APCs. These would be the main wheeled APCs of the NA for the next two decades. They should be armed with 14.5mm machine guns.
The joy of this is that EXCALIBUR will provide spares and maintenance support for the tracked, improvised 30mm cannon-armed IFVs, upgraded Vickers and T72 tanks, the contracted firm will also anchor maintenance support for all BTR-series APCs and IFVs in a one-stop shop. The headache emanating from concerns for logistics thus goes away.
– we should round up the haul of T72 tanks to 200 units, all modernised to the standards of the T72 AV. If nobody is out to cheat, that haul can be tied up for no more than US$120 million, tanks fully beefed up.
– Nigeria should thereafter commence a phased 3-year acquisition of a total of 100 units of T90 tanks valued at US$390 million.
We must never again allow obsolescence to overtake our arsenal. The loss of face and dent to morale is potentially incalculable.
– the NA should round up the number of BTR-4 IFVs to 108 units, enough to equip a few mechanised brigades.
– ensure a minimum haul of 240 BigGoot MRAPs
– 72 units of NORINCO Type 063A light amphibious tanks – speedy and 105mm gun-armed – should be acquired for the amphibious division
proposed by yours truly elsewhere
– the outstanding requirement for APCs and LAPVs should be met by locally produced IGIRIGI-type vehicles.
– technology transfer clauses should be built into the deals for BTR-80s and BigFoot MRAPs
Oga beegs we all forgot manpads, atgms and recon vehicles
Single sourced contracts to Excalibur is dangerous. The company is probably just a trading company with secondary competences in setting maintenance I am not sure.
However if they are not manufacturers of what they are selling, then we are still far from source yet the manufacturers themselves are likely to be inexperienced in managing delivery within a maintenance contract which is means companies like Excalibur may still be the best option. Rosoboronexport is a very good option for land fighting vehicle assembly and maintenance borrowing from the Ethiopian example. Yet there is still that nagging feeling that Rosoboronexport for all its size, Russian government leverage and financial muscle is just not agile and street smart enough to get things started as an Excalibur would. We have dealt with the Russians before in Iron and Steel, they are very hard to motivate, very sluggish in execution and just don’t do international business well enough.
Oga Beegs and fellow patriot , pls watch this video and have the military contact that young man and give him all the financial support and training , we can start making our home grown drones , this can perfected with good funding , we have a lot of talent to transform Nigeria to a high tech country but our government is instead throwing money away instead of investing in its citizen .
I hope EXCALIBUR can live up to the trust you have reposed on them.
Also, if the full complement of IFVs for a mechanised battalion is 18 IFVs like you are suggesting, then to keep the 2 battalions equipped with reformatted Vickers at full strength, we have to convert more than 36 vehicles (we have to account for future combat and accidental losses).
Another option is to convert all the Vickers (50% to heavy APCs armed with 12.7mm, the other half to IFVs armed with remote-stationed 30mm cannons). This way, it will be easier to create units that have standardized equipment.
@beegeagle
“of the 150 units of Vickers Mk.3 tanks
get EXCALIBUR to upgrade 36 units by improving fire controls and adding ERA Kontakt armour. These 36 units should be used to equip two armoured battalions.get EXCALIBUR to upgrade 36 units by improving fire controls and adding ERA Kontakt armour. These 36 units should be used to equip two armoured battalions.”
i have doubts on this one
this platform will be new for excalibur they have to start from scratch do u think they will go for it.
cost benefits will not be good.
this is is only my personal opinion
for the T 55 conversions BTR T is a good option it has a 30mm gun plus anti tank missiles.
also Artemis 30 Twin 30mm cannon is a good option for the upgrade fit
All my Ogas, well said, much respect for how you have all made very valuable contributions, God bless you all for your patriotism.
I don’t have much to say, but after a little scratching of my small coconut head, I feel this way….
Oga jimmy, your concern is genuine about standardization getting Nigeria tied down to one bloc of weapons suppliers. However sir, this is a universal problem that every country outside the group of technologically very advanced countries will face. The hi-tech giants are the only ones immune, like USA, UK, Russia, China.
See Brazil unable to sell Super Tucano without USA permit. South Africa lost it’s Rooivalk helicopter sale contract because one European spare part supplier blocked the supply of a component and frustrated the sale for ever.
Oga jimmy, there are ways around this problem, technical military ways around this problem you envisage. Before I go into that, let me say the global blocs have become West, East, and ‘Central’. The west America and co, east Russia and co, central are emerging….Ukraine, Pakistan, India, Israel, leading the bloc of states who are like Bats…neither animal nor bird in layman’s language. Nigeria seems to be getting weapons from the east and central, good balance. Pakistan buys western components to build weapons, but gets technical blueprints from eastern bloc nation of China which is tied to Russia on the east. India does the same mix. Ukraine is half pro Russian half pro Western Europe in reality.
Oga Henry, your cry for defence industry is very valid. However, Nigeria is not set for real technological advancement until we know the difference between those BSc Engineers in Lagos walking the streets jobless and unable to build a car engine, and the brains or should I say hands behind the technical prowess of advanced countries….the Tradesmen, e.g. Red Seal Certified skilled workers who have only secondary school education but trained by post secondary technical schools and trade union schools…..they are the ones who fabricate and build equipment piece by piece from scratch to finish, the BSc engineers only design blueprints, ensure safety/specs and performance testing, etc, they don’t sweat hands on with tools like saws, wrench, drill, moulder, lathe, grinder, furnace, hammer, welding machine, boring mill, riveter, etc….these Tradesmen technical experts are missing in Nigeria….Machinists and Millwrights and co. The trades and skills sector drives the production of technology after engineers design it on paper in the advanced countries.
Next I will go further on how military forces are built to reduce the impact of arms purchase restrictions. I don’t have much to say, but time will let me say the little I have to say….
simple english polytechnics in nigeria are 6xtimes better than universities
You this man!!!.
There is nothing you type that can rvet be faulted. Always thoughtful and practical. Keep it up my friend.
What you said here corresponds to another insightful post about advanced education and functional illiteracy. I am copying all you have expressed here to flesh upon it and send as a memo or white paper to NASENI, ITF and BOI. BOI is just because they have bright people and deep pockets. Their director went to PRODA Enugu and carpeted them diplomatically for poor sustainability but promised to improve their manpower development.
Sorry i beg to disagree sir. Yes our educational system is lagging behind in many key areas. However, the single biggest issue we have is the absence of challenge. We have always lived by importation with no real attempts to fashion anything out locally.
i will illustrate with a simple example. When Marwa imported the idea of the three wheel bike (now named after him). There was a proposal to build an assembly for the vehicles in Nigeria. However, some people felt it would take too long and opted to import all we needed. Today we probably have the largest fleet of keke marwas outside India and perhaps Pakistan and virtually all of them were imported. We effectively lost thousands of jobs and economic production capacity by not setting up those assembly plants.
In my view, do you know why virtually all the technological advancements in our defence industries have come in the last few years? Simple, we had a COAS who was an Engineer, and appreciated what was possible and knew that there were resources to achieve them. So He stood his ground and asked for the resources for the Engineers to take on those challenges and the results are living with us today.
In short we just need the right leadership and challenge our techies, and you will be shocked what we could put together.
*time will NOT let me say the little I have to say….*
Oga Beegs and fellow patriot , pls watch this video and have the military contact that young man and give him all the financial support and training , we can start making our home grown drones , this can perfected with good funding , we have a lot of talent to transform Nigeria to a high tech country but our government is instead throwing money away instead of investing in its citizen .
INFANTRY…..HEART OF THE ARMY
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Remove the foot soldier and the lifeline of any army is cut off. The modern day foot soldier or infantry is motorized for mobility and mechanized for survivability. These men are the ones who occupy grounds and go where vehicles may not be able to go, street footpaths, hills, rocks, mountains….and thick jungles.
Military strategists and tacticians have developed ways and means of making the infantry largely (Albeit not completely) self reliant and independent of other army corps when situations demand.
The arming of such infantry ensures certain capabilities are available to the infantry corps, missing one component creates a gap that reduces the combat effectiveness of the entire infantry force.
For countries that have experienced wartime arms embargoes in the past and have become wise, it is observed that their infantry corps are solidly equipped…motorized, mechanized and loaded with all types of modern hardware for the various tasks they could face in battle, most of these equipment being produced by local defense industries.
What many wise countries have done is to ensure that all the basic and complete arsenal of infantry hardware are manufactured locally and raw materials/components largely or almost entirely sourced locally. This ensures the capacity of their army to engage in long wars and still defeat the enemy or maintain a stalemate if even the enemy is able to deploy other corps like armoured forces into the battle theatre.
A simple way of building an ‘ALL ROUND BALANCED’ infantry is to ensure that every possible type of enemy threat can be neutralized without calling in support form armoured corps, artillery corps, and the air force.
Even rich countries that can afford to deploy all corps into a battle theatre have found themselves deploying infantryment abroad at short notice in emergencies and the infantry faced threats from enemy armoured corps, artillery corps and air forces.
The infantry may not be ably to defeat all these threats absolutely, but it must be built to degrade them and survive until help comes, or a retreat can be effected.
A standard infantry force will be built around :
1. Firearms…assault rifles, machine guns, grenades, etc.
2. Basic soldiers personal equipment, body armour, night vision, radios, binoculars, compass, HAND LAUNCHED MINI-DRONES/UAV etc.
3. Infantry artillery….60 mm, 81 mm, 120 mm mortars. These give firing range to the infantry up to 7 km depending on mortar calibre. There are man portable mortars and vehicle portable mortars, and also fixed mortar carriers/armoured vehicles. Weight is the factor.
4. Cannon. From 14.5 mm to 30 mm, the infantry should be able to suppress the enemy with fire up to 4 km range. Most of the time, these are vehicle mounted except when building machine gun/cannon nests on fixed positions with fortifications or under bush cover/camouflage.
When vehicle mounted, these cannon double as anti-aircraft defences with optical guidance and targeting sights against low flying and subsonic speed enemy aircraft threats facing the infantry.
5. Anti-tank guided missiles. The threat of enemy armoured corps especially main battle tanks must be defeated by two types of ATGM.
a) Under 30 pounds man portable shoulder held ATGM
b) Over 60 pounds vehicle mounted ATGM
A typical encounter of an infantry battalion and enemy tank force like a T-72 battalion will play out with tactics and ATGM availability.
In urban terrain, the man portable ATGMs are positioned in cover of buildings, walls, windows, roof tops, etc and they destroy enemy tanks from ranges beyond the reach of tank main gun fire.
A Nigerian army T-72 tank in say, a Chadian city will fire it’s 125 mm main gun can only shoot at targets it can see, an infantry soldier on roof top is not an easily visible enemy, he can take out the T-72 from close range like 200 metres to long range like 3 km….at the long range, the tank is unable to attack the infantryman.
In war history, ATGM armed infantry have been known to use the speed advantage of motorized troops to ‘tactically retreat’ faster than enemy tanks can pursue, gain distance advantage over the enemy tank force, then suddenly stop, aim and fire ATGM at the tanks when the infantry range finder indicates they are safely out of range of the pursuing tanks. A tank force of T-72s unable to fire effectively with it’s less than 2km effective range gun, becomes easy meat for the simple light and fast motorized infantry positioned 4 km away with ATGMs.
The heavier vehicle mounted infantry ATGMs do have ranges between 4km to 10km. Anything over 5 km in land warfare is a hard target for human eyesight, beyond 3 km the eyeball already loses ability to identify targets correctly. ATGM launchers depend on magnification electro-optical sights at these ranges. Beyond 7 km to the 10 km limit of the best ATGMs in service, you are going over-the- earth’s-horizon and most armies in this world are not confident to use ATGM at that range.
However, at 2 km, most tanks main gun loses accuracy, some by a wide margin of over 50 meters off target…..the ATGM is guided and effective to kill the tanks from 5 km away.
6. MANPADS….Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems….shoulder held anti-aircraft missiles. An infantry man with a modern MANPADS on his shoulder will shoot down enemy jet fighters flying at range close to 6 km and altitude close to 4 km. These SAM defences coupled with vehicle mounted cannon from 14.5 mm to 30 mm calibre and ranges up to 3 km, ensures that the infantry protects itself when alone in the battle space without air defence artillery corps and air force cover, at least to a basic survival level.
War history counts the victims of MANPADS missiles to include hundreds of combat helicopters and dozens of jet fighters.
7. Infantry fighting vehicles and Light armoured vehicles. IFV gives middle level armour protection to the infantry, speed, all terrain mobility, firepower, and long range enemy detection using sighting periscopes with image magnification, TV-Video cameras, thermal imagers and laser range finders. They are the workhorse of mechanized infantry and it’s best platform of integrating technologically advanced hardware for modern day warfare.
IFV will provide basically :
a) 14.5 mm to 30 mm cannon
b) 120 mm Mortar carrier
c) Short range SAM-MANPADS carrier
d) 120 mm tank destroyer cannon
e ) Command and control station
Complementing the IFV will be the lesser LAV or light armoured vehicles which will focus on medical ambulance, cargo transport, supplies storage, recconnaisance, etc.
The seven hardware, equipment, or weapons listed above, are VERY ESSENTIAL TO BE PRODUCED LOCALLY by any country that wants to standardize and yet maintain long-term war waging capability in the event of an arms embargo.
Nigeria should follow the wisdom of other countries and produce ALL the above 7 items locally, could be under license with full technology transfer from the owner/developer countries. This is a price that must be paid with cash, brains, and sweat.
The Nigerian army does not require more than one brand/type of each of these equipment, THAT IS STANDARDIZATION, all we must do is ensure we can produce them continuously even if the licensing country cuts off relationship, our terms should specify legal right to manufacture ad infinitum after receiving transfer of technology. Reverse engineering is another method of acquiring technology, but why re-invent the wheel and struggle at it for ten years?
An infantry corps well trained and equipped as detailed above will terminate, decimate, and eliminate Boko Haram insurgency with relative ease.
These 7 basic equipment categories will sustain an infantry 100% in COIN war and perhaps up to 70% in a conventional war, the remaining gap of 30% will require calling in field artillery and air defence artillery support to counter enemy field howitzer artillery threat and enemy aircraft threat that are beyond the 7 km and 6 km range of infantry mortar and MANPADS.
at the most conservative estimate if ur looking at setting up indigenous manufacturing base with TOT for the above products this is going to incure a budget of around 8-10 billion dollars if not more and a time period of 3-5 years at the most.
but with proper planning and handling at the highest political level together with the active involvement of the armed forces and private sector it is going to be successful.
setting up of SEZ special economic zones and nurturing quality manpower will cut down on both costs and time.
OGA AUGUSTINE
i agree with you that the ATGM should be incorporated into the NA and i do not mean upgraded RPG7/ 9 no more sterner stuff but it must be placed in safe hands these type of weapons cannot fall into boko hands that is my only fear but regardless they need to be purchased NOW.
I don’t mean to derail this thread but t here’s an interesting article by the BBC about the decisions reached on the deployment of MNJTF against Boko haram. It’s clear we share the same views with the DHQ on the role of foreign forces.
http://m.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31695508
Same old western smear campaign with suggestions and insinuations.
Thy even contradict themselves by saying on the one hand that Nigeria doesn’t want neighbours to come deeper into the country (quite rightly) and then on the other hand Nigerian has claimed some territory with the help of Chad. I didn’t know they had such long range stand-off weapons 😂
*Nigeria has claimed…
It’s better the NA give the Chadians their limits of penetration into our territory. Its now a known fact that Something is going on that is not yet clear to Nigerian eyes. The western world now trying very hard to soil this hard earned victory by Nigerian troops. Once Again
NEVER AGAIN!, NEVER AGAIN!! NEVER AGAIN!!!
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/03/us-nigeria-violence-chad-insight-idUSKBN0LZ0DS20150303
See reuters
i have gone thoroughly thru the suggestions made by my ogas in this thread and just like the other thread,you have All taken the words out of my mouth but i will add one or two suggestions to the above made .
STANDARDIZATION OF HARDWARE SYSTEM:the change in tide in this battle has basically been due to our use of variety and massive and radically innovative changes in what years back would have been considered crazy in our doctrine
(a)Local determination of immediate needs
(b)a fixed and flexible approach towards satisfying those needs locally and otherwise
(c) use of a specific variety of hardware to fulfil orbat roles eg infantry support(cannon)=BVP,BMP,BTR and [possiblely proforce leopard IFV
armour=T-72,T-84,locally modified T-55 and vickers MK3
CAS=MI-34m,MI-24p Mi-17 terminator(VE)
PGM(low impact)Ch-3 drones,modernized alpha jets
PGM(high impact) our helos under CAS ,JF-17,J-10,su-27,su-30..\
before we seek to determine how standardization should be just like many of my officers here have stated tech tranfer,in house maintainability and ordinace procurement channels and local production lines must be top notch priority..
we are all crying out for our local defence industry to be lifted of the ground like a miracle.we have all forgotten that all a gradual process starting form improvization,innovation and creativity will lead towards developing the rtools that will guide us to attain the local content drive we need in our current equipment creating avenues for local developers to work on these tools and develop our own varients and full versions of such equipment.
a typical example of this issue has been the cry that our already existing APC should be rid of the GPMGS mounted on the turrents.NA engineers now mount nothing less than 50cals or zsu-24 AA cannons on both the cobra and igirigi while other IFV succh as the BTR have their own capable modules.
therfore i disagree with anyone mouthing of any suggestions that we should do away with the vickers,T-55 and scorpion tanks .these platforms offer NA engineers and indeed our local industry manufactures a grand chance to perform the best acts of local modernization and upgrade on this pltforms..if we want our local defence industry to grown.our old equipment must become playtoys for our engineers to practise
for me im fancy our
vickers mk= upgraded locally to vicker AN.
ERA armour added,fire control upgraded added,additional fuel tank location
T-55=T-N5..ERA locally added,tracks sides covered,turrent size improved upon
(abeg my ogas no vex,i typed this in a hurry,i will come back and expatiate more ,if there are any contradictions pls point it out to me)
Sounds logical.
I’m inclined to agree with you…
Especially improvisation of the NA engineering corps.
Thatz the only way they can learn and improve on the job.
BUT the Nigeria army industrial complex must be stood up as quickly as possible.
My ogas, l hail ooo.
The commander of our troops in Konduga deserves a double promotion.
This man has proven to be the best in this Boko haram war.
Konduga has been attacked for 15 times already, all to no avail.
The narrative of yesterday’s encounter shows his quality.
May the brave soul of the soldier that died rest in glorious peace.
#Never again
I Agree, ALL those soldiers in Konduga need to be promoted too and provided with additional military assets as a reward.
They have withstood all that boko haram have been throwing at them.
Never faltering once.
Itz only fair.
Morale is important now that the tide is turning.
Medals given to soldiers for uncommon bravery should be publicized as well.
The announced promotions of the personnel that fought to reclaim Baga may have set a precedence that the NA can’t maintain or justify.
Better would have been a grand medals ceremony and unit citations.
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/177851-no-human-rights-violations-in-anti-boko-haram-operations-jonathan.html
http://www.punchng.com/news/uk-trains-nigerian-troops-to-recapture-more-territories/
It must be said that the U.K. Govt unlike the U.S. govt had talked the talk and walked the walk of recent we have seen a change in attitude whereby help appears to been given, accepted and Mutual respect reciprocated without some ex BRITISH GEN running his mouth of to BBC
I t is not done anywhere without the resultant BACKLASH which CULMINATES in a TWO STAR GENERAL left at the Airport.Oh yes relations between Nigeria are fine water under the Bridge.
This blogger hopes the U.K and the F.G. will come at this relationship from a point of mutual respect, something the NSA alluded to in his Chatham house address concerning the recapture of MUBI where He openly acknowledged the assistance of the British Govt .
Once again job well done.
UK is not training Nigerian troops to capture any territory. I wonder where Punch got that silly idea for an headline. What actually happened at Mubi to generate such genuflection?. I don’t have the story and there was nothing in papers about British help.
http://www.channelstv.com/2015/03/03/600-nigerian-army-officers-receive-specialist-courses-training-abroad/
OGA AREJAMES
Much respect for your comments however before I say anything about ANY Country not only do I wait awhile I usually try to get VERIFIABLE facts here are the facts @ least from two sources Apart from the Punch
https://peccaviconsulting.wordpress.com/, He is a former British Officer of Nigerian Heritage HE will know.
I tried to get the exact wording where the NSA Colonel Dasuki (rtd) said the UK govt was ” helpul” in training of the SF used in Recapturing MUBI but I was unable to , I know for a fact that OGA BEEGS knows about the MUBI recapture OPS because He had a thread on it AND OGA IGBI was able to download the entire thread of the NSA’S speech.
Fact the fall of BAGA and the Heroic resistance at Kondunga represents there were issues at the TACTICAL and Training command how can a LT. COL with less assets do better that A Brig . GEN before BAGA there was Mubi so instead of burying their heads in the sand, they turned to the British Army , Doziex’s men , tossed out the Americans, Relieved the GOC and replaced him with the Chief OF logistics Maj Gen Adeoshun and together with more Equipment and better logistical and training the results are evident.
oga IGBI:
Please if you have the thread of the NSA’S SPEECH @ Chatham House where he also talked about the Mubi Recapture Operation please provide it.
The NSA said that British-trained troops were instrumental in HALTING the BH southern advance in Adamawa state at Hong.
Thank you OGA ASOROCK, RKA
We have all been scathing in our attacks OF THE LUKEWARM attitude of the UK and the US towards Helping Nigeria in it’s hour of need . Likewise we are an integrity – driven BLOG when a senior Ranking British General is in Nigeria with other Senior ranking British army officers it IS BIG NEWS and We are duty bound to be praising which is the antonym of Scathing.
@ Drones your contribution is requested.
Dear Oga Jimmy, thanks for the link, fantastic Sitrep, not the rubish posted in the western Media
http://reporters365.com/2015/03/69871/photos-nigerian-army-seminar-in-jaji-kaduna-state.html
oga AREJAMES
Here is further CONFIRMATION
Gotta go right now but will Start Moving on part 2
We all make MISTAKES.
Sorry, I completely missed the sequence of events and the reporting.
It obviously was not reported in the papers in such a blatant fashion as Punch belatedly just did.
No Worries
OFF TOPIC
but the link below makes interesting read on jf17/fc1 ver j10
i have posted the link makes quite a interesting read
http://china-defense.blogspot.in/2015/02/expert-j-10-more-suitable-for-argentina.html
by the way the above website is good for getting latest info on chinese weapons
Beegeagle bloggers recommend a mix of upgraded or new Sukhois and the JF 17.
Nigeria will not go for only the JF 17 I think. The threats we have are in a spectrum going from insurgency to rapidly ‘re arming neighbours to hostile super powers, only SU 3X/JF 17 and refuelling airplanes match those threats.
@latchit: the JF 17 is probably the world’s most upgradeable combat aircraft and calling g it “not exactly 4th gen because of absence of AESA radar” is uncharitable.
What does it take to fit an AESA radar into that nose?. The only issues I see are physical space available, power supply, software, a few wires and bus connectors..i am probably simplifying very ridiculously but surely it can be done.
well the opinions on FC1 are that of Mr Xu Yongling who is a J-10 test pilot for the PLAAF published on China Military Online.
maybe he is trying to sell the j 10 instead of the fc1 to Argentina ??
of all the things the most interesting line worth noting was
” Chengdu FC-1 originated from J-7 after all, it is not a fourth-generation warplane in a strict sense”
also the comparison is between jf17 and j10, keeping in mind the requirements of argentina and the potential adversaries like typhoon ,f16 and gripen etc
i recently read that china is building a 2 seater trainer version of jf17
and also that jf17 is going to have the rd33 engines replaced by french m88 engines.
about the engine replacement i am a little sceptic because if the rafale deal is cleared then i dont think jf17 is going to have the m88 engines.may be a ruse on the part of the french to get india to buy the rafales.or may be not.
international politics is very hard to understand.
@are james
as for the radar in jf 17 it has the KLJ-7 which uses a mechanically-steered planar array antenna .a interesting fact is that pakistan had a important role to play in its development .they provide samples of the grifo radar installed in their upgraded mirages to china for reverse engineering.LOLzz
in the case of aesa radar for jf 17 since 2010 lots of claims have been made by pakistan from grifo s7 to vixen aesa radar but nothing has happened so far.
the europeans dont want their latest radars to be copied by the chinese thats why maybe nothing has happened.
but in future things might change . wait and watch
@”The only issues I see are physical space available, power supply, software, a few wires and bus connectors..i am probably simplifying very ridiculously but surely it can be done”
the moment i read this statement i had a heart attack .avionics is the most difficult to master and implement . it surely is not about software wires and bus connectors.just google then u will realise the implications of ur above comment.
try to search for journels , brochures from OEMs they are a good and authentic source of info
Just thought this might be of interest.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/03/africa/boko-haram-recruiting-cameroon/index.html