-
Archives
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
-
Meta
Beegeagle's Blog 
Was surprised to have learnt earlier this week that Nigeria are ONE of only FIVE countries worldwide known to have used armed drones in combat. The rest are the USA, UK, Israel & Pakistan.
That is a mighty exclusive group to be in. Well done, NAF. we want to see you guys act gutsy as often as possible. Stop aiming for Advanced Trainer/Light Attack jets and go for a 4G jet.
Oga Beegs Oga Henry, it’s a matter of personal ideology of military strategy. The NAF leadership since 1999 to date does not have any much interest in a capable air to air combat force that can stand up to a MiG-29 jet or an air to ground strike force that can face a BUK air defence SAM.
I think NAF believes the era of 30 MiG-21 and 18 Jaguar is gone, like they feel ex- CAS Brig. Ikwue and AVM Bello purchased them because they desired the jets.
The 30 MiG-21 jets were delivered in 1 year, the 18 Jaguars jets delivered in about 1 year…..the 15 F-7 jets took 5 years to deliver from order date, no more seriousness.
We blame FG a lot, but hey, each armed force has it’s own annual budget paid to them and it’s up to them to squeeze in a few units of a platform they see as needed to plug a dangerous gap of weakness in Nigeria’s defence capabilities. NAF has always got it’s annual budget allocation, they buy what they want most of the time, they evaluate and re-evaluate and over-evaluate Su-30 Flanker and dump it after evaluation shows it’s the best.
Nigeria before Pakistan. How many CH3s did we really buy?. Does anyone know?.
Grapevine says 10 units, only 5 recorded as ordered on SIPRI, 1 crashed. We should have at least 4 CH-3 drones left. It’s Nigeria so the thing no go dey clear to understand, need BODMAS to solve the mathematics maybe it can help.
@oga beeg.
Oga beeg baba, naija dey hail thee sir!
Thanks for the info that naija is one of the few countries to used a armed drones.
Naija, i bow for THEE!!!
God bless Nigeria!
God bless all ogas on beegeagle.
NAF should just buy a 4.GEN Jet already!
Honestly I don’t see light at the end of the tunnel in quick time. The change in government and service air chief has slowed down things.
Buhari in USA won’t bring a quick F-16 jet, yankee congress debate and white house protocol will delay, plus we cannot afford a brand new F-16 jet with our stingy Ijebu drinking gari attitude. Your F-16 maybe second hand from yankee boneyard and stripped down avionics with at best a medium range missile, yanks don’t sell long range BVR to Africa that easily, even Egypt did not get long range, they got only medium BVR for their F-16.
Buhari our able leader in France, well, Mirage 2000 is a discontinued and obsolescent jet, Rafale fly away cost with armament is $200 million per unit, it will tear pocket for Nigeria.
Buhari maybe in Germany or Britain next visit, nothing good in an obsolescent Tornado jet that is expensive to maintain, Euro-Typhoon price is as crazy as Rafale. So no road there I guess.
Buhari, will he go to Russia, China and Pakistan too on visit? I don’t know.
Israeli Kfir Block 60 is a second hand discontinued jet rebuilt with no future.
Pakistani JF-17 Thunder is a good dream that comes to us at night and vanishes when we wake up as NAF and FG continue to play the waiting game for reasons not disclosed to the public.
NAF purchasing a 4th generation jet fighter, remains the most speculative topic on this blog and the most unpredictable event of the decade 2010 to 2020.
Mirage 2000 and it’s upgrades are not obsolete. It is good to remember that the NAF is essentially an European / Russian equipped force so the tech usability would not be a big issue.
Oga Are James, I did not say Mirage 2000 is obsolete sir, I said obsolescent….beginning the journey to become obsolete soon. It`s still a 4th gen jet, but it is out of production and discontinued for the French military. Replacement began 10 years ago with Rafale in France, and Brazil is replacing it with Gripen NG, that is the sign of obsolescence, still in service, but on it`s way out. The country that owns it won`t buy it anymore even if improved, but they still produce for export. It`s a bad sign like the Kfir Block 60.
I would rather buy a JF-17 Thunder that has a future to grow into a 4+ generation jet brand new. I could ask Pakistan to integrate Israeli or Italian radar and electronic warfare hardware on my JF-17, plus I get technology transfer and may assemble it locally.
Honestly oga mi, I will accept any 4th generation jet FG and NAF decides to buy, because we have shouted in vain with suggestions for 5 years, half bread is better than nothing bros, anything they buy and is 4th gen, we will accept it like that, even if it`s Mirage 2000, we don`t control the Nigerian government or do we?
For real. That capability gap is the single most glaring evidence of successive FGs’ failure to give us a military machine that befits our nation’s status.
http://www.airforce.mil.ng/admin_controller/generalItem/BannerImages/47.jpg
Sir Beegeagle the Generalissimo, beyond Nigeria’s continental status there is also a real threat. A next door neighbour having total air superiority over Nigeria has finally happened. Maybe NAF and FG believe we can always beg France to help us beg any Francophone neighbour that squeezes our throat.
Buhari has a good vision for NAF, but the CAS has to quickly seize the oppourtunity before it vanishes away. Walk up to the president and say, oga, remember your army days as tank commander, you fought a weaker neighbouring country in a skirmish, but today that neighbour has total air power superiority over Nigeria, we are not safe.
Mr.President will listen and help, either NAF asks for money to go west and buy whatever 4th generation jet we can get or use the Russian loan facility that is waiting for us and avoid paying cash today.
Threat analysis is a big stranger to Nigeria, we do not take gaps in our defence capabilities seriously, we believe in “Let the disaster happen first, then we will see how to repair the damage.” You know our people hate life insurance, we prefer to die first and let our widow do the crying, while extended family searches for how to feed the fatherless children.
See, Nigeria needs to have permanent standards as a nation, in our civil/political life and military philosophy or doctrine. NAF does not see itself as having a minimum standard, below which it’s capacity must not fall. They live life like anything goes, whatever is available today is what is available.
An example is how a fellow African country assesses it’s defence capabilities in peace-time, they have no war, yet they think ahead, they deliberately look for gaps/weak points in their military combat capabilities and fill the gaps, they have a national defence philosophy of “We must never go down below a particular level of combat capability even in peace-time”.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/09/15/SANDF-goes-shopping
The best time to plan for war time, is peace time. A word is enough for the wise. Thank you all.
You have said it all. Thank you
you defined it all and your reflection of the Nigerian mentality in refusing Life assurance is one hundred percent correct.
i simply think the easy way of life which we strive to attain place upon us by our mindset or the situations in country has reduced us to citizens with low situational awareness and a knack for self grandeur.
recall that in the early days of Urban IED attacks in this war, it was met with comprehensive shock and disbelief with a whole lot trust on our defined easiness of life. while the world was rocking in the context of multiple terrorist rise, we failed to really gauge the impact and flow and we all know what it really did to our pride and Psych Honestly nothing would give me joy right now more than for NAF to acquire even 3 units of JF 17 (at least that would bring my mind down). the symmetry of warfare today has changed. if you want to annihilate a threat you start form the
AIR!
goodmorning my ogas especially oga beegz
Some goodnews for Nigeria.
According to defenceweb.com, Nigeria would be well represented for the first time at AAD 2016 in Pretoria.
“For the first time ever the African Union will take a pavilion at Waterkloof.
With the gradual establishment of the African Standby Force (ASF), attempts to ensure greater commonality of equipment for such a unit could be more at the forefront of procurement considerations in the years ahead.
Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda have said they will take stands at AAD to show their defence products.”
If only Igirigi had been perfected, we would have displayed at the AAD 2016, the cheapest, effective, battle field combat tested, and operationally successful Light Armoured Vehicle in the world today. Nigeria would have gotten many African, South American, and Asian buyers, plus AU and UN.
I pray the FG in Abuja will invest fully in complete technical improvement of Igirigi and find a private sector JV partner for development, manufacturing, marketing, and export sales.
Also hope Proforce will display it’s LAVs there at the AAD 2016, they have potential for export sales, cheap and effective sells a good product and beats competition.
Don’t be surprised Oga Beeg, I have been saying that months ago and everybody thought I ws nuts. Nigeria is the 3rd country after the United States and Israel to have actually employed the use of armed Drones in combat. That’s Ivy league mates, that’s where we belong. We fly the most advanced aerial reconnaissance aircraft, have the most sophisticated remote sending sattelites in Space, we have more Sattelites in Space than all of Africa combined, we have missile firing Drones……….errr and we fly as front line fighters airplanes American citizens buy for trill ride and leisure. We have outdated Tanks and our Warships are equipped with nothing just deck guns. What a paradox of a nation we are. Proudly Naija. Any day.
238 Badger Infantry fighting vehicles, all one model, easy logistics to support nd parts commonality in stocks, uniform training for operators, all bought from a domestic manufacturer Armscor,
South African financial magazines carry stories of how the order would boost the life of workers and create additional jobs right up to the steel manufacturers in supporting plants and companies.
Unlike our Nigerian story of endless variety of models and types of APCs/ IVFs like a motor show. the logistic of maintenance and stocking of spares would be quite interesting.
Preach on my brother. I dey your back!!
http://www.ngrguardiannews./2015/09/venezuelan-military-plane-crashes-on-colombia-border/
In the word of one of my oga =buy west buy east failure is guaranteed so why not buy Nigeria
My Ogas, please what happened to the many Nigerian army drones acquired in large numbers likely around end of 2013 for war on Boko Haram ?
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/ihejirika-army-acquires-drones-to-deal-with-terrorists/169370/
This is why the shield should be lifted off procurements. When this man said this I and other observer were sure it was Grif drone from one of the east European countries, upon further research I changed my mind when began to look instead like a hand launched battlefield drone with origins in Israel, after that it looked again like another new development from eastern Europe, then finally two weeks ago it looked like the Canadian one with the Greek mythology sounding name.
Can we say NAF should transfer these CH-3 drones to the army and NAF can buy CH-4 drones as replacement?
CH-4 armed drone :
= 6 to 10 missiles
= 40 hours flight endurance
= 50 km range radar
= 250 km to 2,000 km range/control radius
= 5 km missile stand off range
= $ 4 million estimated price per unit
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2015-04/09/c_127673261_2.htm
please explain 50 km radar on this drone?
“CH-4 has two reconnaissance payloads, including the Opto-Electronic Platform, which features visible lighting, infrared, laser rangefinder and laser designator. It can detect a medium-sized tank 15 kilometers away and conduct all-time reconnaissance on targets.
The CH-4 also boasts a synthetic aperture radar to see through the clouds with a maximum recon-range of 50 kilometers and a maximum resolution of half a meter, which can help it detect commonly seen targets on the battlefield.”
CH4 cannot detect an aircraft 50 km away. To put it clearly it cannot detect to 50 km and transmit the parameters to its control center . Let us be careful about carefully strung words designed to obfuscate or hint at capability that is non existing.
Is life over for Amebo drone and Gulma drone both made in Nigeria? Around 2013, Brazil offered to partner with Nigeria on drone development, what happened now?
Gulma Drone has already been deployed in operations. I remember posting an article on the deployment.
http://www.punchng.com/news/army-sends-back-pardoned-soldiers-to-fight-bharam/
FUTERISTIC ERA – STOP THE TANK BUSTERS IN THEIR TRACKS hehehe 😀
electric reactive armor and electromagnetic armor are the new areas of interest. These systems use pairs of electrically charged plates to, in essence, transform an entire bullet proof panel into a giant supercapacitor. When struck by a projectile, the charged panel releases a sudden burst of high voltage to create a powerful electromagnetic field that can slow, stop, and even vaporize military kinetic rounds and shaped charges .
basically the technology involves substituting traditionally thick steel armour plate with two much thinner plates which are separated by an insulator. These plates are electrically charged to form a capacitor and when a shaped charge penetrates the plates, it closes the circuit to discharge the capacitor and so instantly diffuses the attack.
Further advancements of the ERA, considered for future implementation, include a “Smart Armor” concept that will has integrated sensors and microprocessors embedded into the armor, which sense the location, type, velocity and diameter of the projectile or jet, will trigger smaller explosive elements, to form an effect tailored against a specific penetrator.
Another future version of the reactive armor concept is the Momentum Transfer Armor – which is also designed to counter KE threats. This technology is applicable for front and side protection, where adequate space can be allocated for such installation. The system will be activated by threat warning sensors that will detect an incoming projectile and launch a small steel bar in a direction perpendicular to the flight-path of the approaching threat.
research is going on the use of powerful magnets to melt and destroy incoming missiles and shells.
Each vehicle would be covered in ‘smart armour’ using electrical fields, instead of thick metal, to give protection against anti-tank weapons.
most modern tanks, weigh more than 60 tonnes because they have to carry plating that is more than 2ft thick.But a tank that relies on electromagnetic pulses, instead of plating, to provide a shield against missiles would weigh a modest 20 tonnes.
some of work being done include having a tank covered with tiles made of strong plastic under which a sandwich of different materials would be installed. First there would be a mat of optical fibres, then a thin sheet of standard armour plating, and underneath that would lie a series of metal coils. thus when an anti-tank shell explodes on standard armour, the copper cone of its head is projected as a powerful jet of metal that travels at five miles a second. This jet focuses an immense amount of energy on a tiny area and so can slice easily through several feet of dense metal, causing devastation inside a tank.
However, on striking smart armour a shell would produce a very different reaction. Firstly, it would sever optical cables in the mat below the tank’s outer plastic cover. This would trigger sensors to activate electrical capacitors inside the tank which would send a mighty electrical current surging through the metal coils at the base of the smart armour.
A massive electromagnetic field would be created inside the armour, as the high-velocity copper jet begins to pass through it. This field would induce electrical currents in the copper.
The thin copper jet would be flattened and broadened out and so would be unable to cut through the thin standard plating at the base of the smart armour.
Essentially, electromagnets would be used to dissipate the energy of an anti-tank missile or shell,
lolzzz if all these panout then work on anti-tank missiles will have to start all over again. 😀
“Essentially, electromagnets would be used to dissipate the energy of an anti-tank missile or shell,”**** and can be used over and over again since a very small portion of it is used by the impact unlike present day ERA which sacrifices itself entirely in order to protect the vehicle leaving the base armour exposed totally exposed.****
Made in Nigeria Drone on a Made in Nigeria Truck.
Naija neva will carry last 😉
The private sector must see the aerospace industry as a cash-cow that needs to be milked seriously. We have all it takes to easily establish and implement new generations of MALE and HALE UAV’s.
Made in Nigeria Drones; Made in Nigeria trucks house Made in Nigeria communications software and hardware, to link Made in Nigeria ground stations through Made in Nigeria satellites to Made in Nigeria Drones. Ecosystem complete?
We need to continue to adequately fund the Centre for Space Transport and Propulsion (CSTP), the operational arm of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) to enable Nigeria rockets send its spacecrafts into orbit, and also use same knowledge to bolster our quest for Made in Nigeria precision guided missiles.
Oga Oje.. I respect your hustle sir
Thanks Mr. Oje for posting this, this is beautiful! Seeing a completely Nigerian set up is exciting. Let’s see how far the engineers are motivated with funding to carry the project to the next level. IVM van converted into a GCS, amazing! Complete with an AC rigged at the back 🙂
It seems the logistical support is quite much with several personnel working to prepare the drone for lunch, this has to be looked into. Also the launch time and procedure should be reduced. This would make for a very effective surveilance platform and may be a hand launch variant can be made for the army soon.
Gulma is more of a RC plane, it makes to much noice
In strict technical definitions, a drone/UAV is a remote controlled vehicle; duhh
What differentiates a recreational drone from a Military one is speed, range, load capacity, communication range, and on-board sensors, otherwise they are one and the same fundamental technology
“it makes too much noise” hehehe, please name one mechanical engine that doesn’t make noise; a greater altitude easily ensures dissipation of such sound energies.
Oga, although i do not fully understand the rational and genuine basis for your one sentence contribution, i would greatly implore you to indulge us and expatiate on your exact chain of thoughts as one sentence is too ambiguous and can be easily misconstrued.
This one time though, call it “baptism by fire” you are been called out on your flagrant ignorance; i pray you learn quick.
abeg pak well o, which levels u dey my guy 😉
s’all love though bro, welcome to BEEGEAGLE’S BLOG
Oga Joweezee. I respect your hustle sir.
The Gulma was unveiled in a ceremony on 17 December 2013
according to nigerian news sources, It was produced by the Nigerian Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) with the help of aerospace engineers from Cranfield University in Britain. Since 2007, the British institution has partnered the AFTI as part of the Nigerian government’s bid to develop an in-house capacity for advanced aviation design, research and development.
Powered by a 17 hp engine, (if my identification is correct it would be the Zanzottera 498i two-stroke boxer engine or its derivatives ).
the Gulma is built on a composite aluminium alloy structure, and operates via radio control on a Micro Pilot FCS avionics system.
The Gulma UAV Launch and recovery is seen from the video is being performed by an external pilot, who the hands over the control of the UAV to the GCS after the UAV takes off. after that for the rest of the time it is operated by the pilots/operators inside the mobile GCS.
MTOM-40kg
Maximum Altitude-10,000ft
Cruise Speed-86.4kts
Endurance-6hrs (inclusive of up and down trip)
Take off/landing Method-Landing strip (100m)
Flight Mode :
1.Autopilot/RPV
2.1000 way points, Re-programmable during flight fail-safe mode, loiter mode and user defined holding patterns.
Telemetry Data:
1.Real time digital video
2.Position and health of UAV
3.Geo-referencing
Tracking/Navigation
1.GPS based
2.80km line-of-sight communication.
3.beyond line of sight capability.
my personal opinion is that a version of Gulma which can be catapult launched from a vehicle should be developed so that it can operate in areas where there r no runways.
also could not help noticing the structural ie airframe resemblance to aerostar uav, maybe it was the inspiration.
According to the de-facto propaganda wing of the areRams:
*Gun-trucks such as these can be seen on the streets of Abuja
*And as at September 2015, posted below is the map of areRams spread
hehehehe. i cannot convincingly say that this is a result of incompetence, but i can say for sure as we’ve always noted on this space, aljazera provides publicity to their arerams comrades whenever they can; how else does one explain this vivid lunacy.
PS: Dont even get me started on what the actual program was about.
Inside Story – Can US strategy work against Boko Haram?
Talking about how supposed teams of non-combat American troops are helping talk to villagers in Niger, imploring them to report arerams to the authorities; heheheh, i kid you not, honestly, lol. Wondering maybe this strategy can work in Nigeria. heheheheh, i die.
Nigeria has the most vibrant civil society on the continent, we are constantly talking, by Gods grace we are equally constantly ending these mofos just the same.
NAIJA I HAILTHEE.
Lawd av mercy! I can’t stop laughing at this “Newly Invented map of Nigeria done by AlJazeera for the propagation BH works to be believed by Terrorist symphatizers the world over”. What else do we have to say, when “Nigeria have been overrunned by BokoHaram” as AlJazeera is portraying in the map.
This isn’t lunacy or incompetence but outright Hatred for the Nigerian state and a flagrant demeanor of the successes recorded in the fight against their(AJ) “Brothers-in-arms”. AJ is funded by powerful monarchs in Qatar and am not surprised, qatar have been accused time and over again of their sponsorship of terrorist groups.
They have enough wealth, i mean W E A L T H to fund any group they want, as in, the money is there.
Within two years, AJ journalists have been arrested in more than 3 countries and some are handed prison terms. Is it coincidental that Nigeria accused them of spying and “going beyond their area of permission” and Egypt accused them of “harming Egypt’s security”? What do we have to say about Turkey’s arrest of AJ staffs? AJ are funded by power people in Qatar and they have to bend the narratives to suite their financers.
So, their contempt against Nigeria is not surprising. Nigeria, CARRY GO AND SMOKE THEIR BROTHER-IN-ARMS OUTTA THEIR ENCLAVES.
Long Live Federal Republic of Nigeria
Long Live Nigeria Military
Long Live Nigerians
lunacy is just the perfect word to describe this report
WORDS ON MARBLE
QUOTE
Honestly oga mi, I will accept any 4th
generation jet FG and NAF decides to buy, because we have shouted in vain with suggestions for 5 years, half bread is better than nothing bros, anything they buy and is 4th gen, we will accept it like that, even if it`s
Mirage 2000, we don`t control the
Nigerian government or do we?
END
🙂 🙂 Chai..lol. Augustine don surrender in exasperation. Hehehe..oh lawd, Nigeria is a tough place to be a patriot
Yes Oga Beegeagle, my crayfish is bending beyond elastic limit….LOL.
i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/AandA/AandA005/RAAF%20F-A-18A%20Hornet%20multi-role%20fighter%20aircraft%20is%20seen%20during%20its%20transit%20for%20a%20mission%20over%20Iraq.%20The%20F-A-18As%20provide%20close%20air%20support%20and%20precision%20strike%20operations%20in%20support%20of.jpg
So the electromagnetic field basically moves the copper ‘conductor’ away from the inner shell and dissipated it along magnetic field lines of the tanks outer shell, Interesting.
As for the capacitor based reactive armour, its o.k. as long as you don’t accidently short it with your finger 🙂
You will be losing a bit more than the said finger. I wouldn’t want to be the technician that works on battle scarred capacitor based reactive armour. hehe.
“You will be losing a bit more than the said finger.”
hehehe u betcha
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/navy-acquires-israeli-surveillance-system-to-tackle-oil-theft/220555/
Remove it from the Navy . let the control center report to the NSA office of economic intelligence and surveillance.
since the thread is on UAV
i hope nobody will mind if i ask the ogas view on the most important mechanical part whose mastery is required to build a high performance MALE and HALE UAV.
this perticular mechanical piece of equipment and its technology is restricted for export and is a closely guarded secret.
hint:something to do with control
I’d guess electronic gyroscopes? Maybe also some serious kickass GPS systems that can’t be easily disabled. Though, in the event of a major war,satellite communication,tracking and mapping systems will be the first to go in the early days.
Thanks. This is insightful technical reply. Electronic gyroscopes are the heart of the controls of everything.
sorry my mistake i missed a important word
hint:something to do with ***flight*** control
” most important mechanical part ”
the answer is actuators -to control the movement of the various moving parts of a uav for precise coordinated and highly agile flight manuvers.
the actuators must be redundent, highly accurate , highly responsive to a microsecond , zero time latency , self aware/intelligent enough to correct, rectify I/P signals, an MTBF exceeding 2,000 hours and be able to coordinate in a beehive mode. infact the actuators used in a uav are far more sophisticated than that in a fighter plane.
there are many varieties both commercial and military grade
performance and technical characteristics of military grade actuators are nearly 70% if not more than the civilian grade actuators.
the latest actuators are the plasma actuators for use in high performance hale and male uavs and even high tech PGMs.
gyroscopes yes they r important and they r concerned with navigation ie maintaining orientation and they come already embedded in the INS inertial navigation system module .
GPS systems again yes, but nowdays major countries dont use gps as a standalone , they tie it up with additional navigational systems like the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), indian GPS aided geo augmented navigation (GAGAN), Differential GPS (DGPS), Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) and Assisted GPS etc etc, and also use the “get home” module, which activates when all signals r lost, then the auto pilot then takes over and guides the uav over a pre programmed flight path to return to base.
i also agree with u that in the event of a major war,satellite communication,tracking and mapping systems will be the first to go in the early days.
UAV technology is very vast and complicated, every passing day new and better tech is being developed
regards
It seems as though Pakistan is sniffing around for Su35’s.
http://www.janes.com/article/54532/pakistani-official-confirms-su-35-talks
Let them shop. They are sandwiched between India, Asia’s Naval superpower and China, the Asia’s land and air superpower.
They are not sniffing. Moscow is dangling. Moscow needs to sell a lot of stuff to raise cash for new defence / aerospace technology. The oil and gas market has tanked. Our NAF (Nigerian Alpha-Jet Force) needs to get on the bandwagon. MIG 35 8s not too sophisticated for Nigeria. We need a creme de la creme of pilots and engineers set aside even now for high tech stuff – (our top gun crew) and then buy the jets already
Oga James you never know. I know our leaders are dumb but there must be a limit to it. I am sure Nigerian pilots are somewhere in India, Pakistan, Russia or China training for in preparation for delivery of something that may just blow our mind. Last week I saw a Helicopter gunship painted grey. You notice it because of the stark contrast to what we are used to. Believing me it’s hard to miss, and it has 2 engines by the side. There is no mistaken it. Something is in the works.
It’s Pakistan’s best option for balancing air power superiority in which India is far ahead of them. The JF-17 and F-16 will fall flat before the Su-30 MKI not to talk of the Rafale. This Russian Su-35 Flanker is sometimes estimated to cost at least $ 75 million per unit and is a 4++ generation multi-role jet fighter, the best all aspects jet fighter in the world today, better than the pocket tearing and back account draining $ 200 million French Rafale.
I would rather have 8 examples of the Su-35 Flanker than 12 examples of the Su-30 MK, yes I will sacrifice extra numbers for technical air superiority. I would rather have 4 units of Su-35 Flanker E, than have 12 units of JF-17 Thunder at the same total costs of purchase. You see the Pakistanis are now worried about deep penetration air to ground strike capability into enemy territory, and also worried about air to air engagement with the Indian Rafale. Good military top brass, good thinking.
Oga mcshegz, please desist from posting in a curate and I’ll researched info and please take down those Aljazeera crap of a photo you posted. Looking at the map it is easy to conclude Boko Haram controls %70 of Nigeria we in actual fact Boko Haram have not only lost all territories but are actually on the run.
agreed. it is our mission to inform al jazeera not spread their mis information. Boko Haram does not have enough men, food, water and fuel to hold on to one LGA at the moment.
Continuing advocacy for the Mirage 2000.
This is the version we need:
http://wiki.flightgear.org/Dassault_Mirage_2000-5
Oga Are James….what is your opinion about the cost price of Mirage 2000-5 jet ?
Greece paid about $ 60 million per unit in year 2000 and the jets were not delivered until 2007, some observers believe the factory production line for Mirage 2000 was closed down finally after the Greek aircraft were manufactured.
Cost Vs Market availability….if we ‘cannot’ afford it due to stinginess, what happens? If the production factory is shut down finally, what happens? There is no second hand Mirage 2000-5 yet in the market, only the older variant is available second hand from France and some few countries who are stepping up to a more modern aircraft.
How do you picture this scenario?
We should get low life fairly used from French retiring stock, upgrade to Mirage 2000-5D and plug immediate capability gaps for now. The risk management around France putting on board devices to prevent hostile action against their west African minions is an issue but these can be worked out. We have common threats in radical Islam and joint business in the Gulf of Guinea.
@ Anybody With Open Mind Facing Reality :
If you were given an option between buying Mirage 2000 series and Israeli rebuilt Kfir Block 60 jet fighter at cost price $ 20 million per unit for the Kfir, which way will you go?
Eurofighter Typhoon and Block 60
@Augustine, my sincere opinion would be that the NAF should go for the Kfir Block 60 instead of the Mirage 2000 series no matter how benevolent the French government might be to us now, our National Security interest should be our top priority!
@ Augustine, my sincere opinion would be that the NAF should go for the Kfir Block 60 instead of the Mirage 2000 series no matter how benevolent the French government might be to us now.
Our National Security interest as a sovereign state should be our top priority! The Falkland/Malvinas war of April-June 1982 is a good lesson to learn from HISTORY !
It is very hard to not get really pissed when we turn in the tekevision, and from the way bad news is presented one can almost think they gleefully air inciting and negative news to the public. If an Earthquake or shooting ven occur we are bombarded for hours and days of endless repetitive news and analysis on TRAGIC EVENTS. They wont spend more than 30 minutes airing good pisitive news.The biggest threat to globalance peace is not nuclear weapons or natural disasters. It’s not terrorism or dictatorial regimes. The biggest threat to humanity is today’s mainstream media. Starting from the mid 2000’s the more assertive and independent mainstream media has become, the more the world has decended into Chaos,…and the more chaos notice how wealthy and powerful mainstream media has become. While it is good to make profits for share holders constantly digging for negative events has turn this once stable political landscape into a hot pot of soup.
Since 2011 700,000+ people have died because of the Arab Spring, majority of these casualties are innocent women and children. Al-Jazeera, short of funds took advantage of the unrest in Egypt and Tunisia. They blew these “normal events” to hyperbolic proportions, creating a “false” sense of Epic revolution happening and deceiving the people into thinking they are about to make history. As the violence unfolded Aj-zeera posted double digit profits in funds and it’s viewership more than doubled. If you take a retrospective look back I’m sure %90 of in this blog started watching Aljazeera from the early 2011’s. Not satisfied with the violence they took it futher by making heroes out of protesters. They utilised social media like Facebook and Twitter to create nearly 24 hours real time awareness. They created “The Stream” and whadya know, viewership tripped. Before long groups like Al-Queda began sending their propaganda messages on tapes to Al-Jazeera and to my horror the bastardic pro Jihad network airs these propaganda messages. Who doesn’t wanna be a part of history? The idea of revolution went VIRAL. Basking in its success Al-Jazeera now coined the term “ARAB SPRINGS”. The results? In less than 2 years these countries effectively became failed States.
Egypt
Tunisia
Libya
Mali.
Enter CNN, the most naive, biased and hypocritical news network mankind has ever seen. CNN is responsible for transforming leaders of terrorist groups into celebrities, and of course intensified it’s biased one sided propaganda against dictators to create chaos. Each time a circular leader is toppled the country eventually descends into anarchy. I’m not saying I support or encourage dictatorships, not at all but there must be law and order, the alternative is chaos. CNN and Forbes awarded Vladimir Putin “The most powerful man in the world 2014” and whaddya know, after the award Putin annexed Crimea and did not bother hiding their covert operations in Eastern Ukraine. It will not be in Putin best interest to tone down his aggressive and destructive policies lest he losses the number 1 spot.
Same CNN awarded ISIS the “Richest Terrorist Group in the world 2014”.They even show his diamond encrusted while he prayed in a Mosque. Now Al-Queda is mad they have been knocked out the number 1 spot by ISIS and losing followership, what is Al-Queda ‘s strategy to make a comeback? That’s right, more bloodshed. They move into the already boiling toxic soup in Syria and Voila, civilian deaths quadriple. Rather than show the world the atrocities commited by these bbaric savages they focus instead on Assad. They accuse him on using barrel bombs on civilians ND show emotion laced images of women and children, accusing Assad of war crimes but they conveniently refused to show protests on the streets of Damscus of hundreds of thousands of Syrian Christians alike, marching in support of Assad and condemning ISIS.
Not to be undone by CNN Al-Jazeera goes on the offensive in the annual Hezbollah vs Israel Season 6. They refuse to show the world how Hezbollah is using Palestinian civilians as shield and propaganda. They site rocket sites in civilian neighborhoods and schools,launch attacks into Israel and provoke an Israeli response, which often times results in very sad civilian casualties. Israel is demonized and Hezbollah is subtley idolized.
Enter the DUMBEST American president the world has ever seen and may ever see. If Obama and NATO had not toppled Gaddafi Boko Harm would never had gotten the kind of weapons they had. When the Chibok incident was hot CNN potrayed Shekau as the new kid in the block. Never once did I see strong condemnation of the horrors perpetuated by Boko Haram, all we head was how Jonathan was inept, how Nigerian soldiers failed to respond in time, bladabla. This went on for a month +and in that time frame Boko Haram had emerged into the global stage and more suicide attacks occurred because of the insane publicity. Shekau can hardly believe his luck. Now Obama obviously mad at Nigeria’s stance on gay rights used Amnesty International as a tool to demonize our government and subsequently made sure Nigeria never got the arms we need, they not only refused us they blocked Pakistan, Israel and Sout Africa from selling arms to Nigeria.
To cap it all, I award Obama the dumbest President the world has ever seen. He accuses Nigeria (the world’s 4th largest democracy) of human rights abuse and frustrate our quest for arms..while at the same time pledges financial and military support to 2 of Africa’s longest ever serving dictators. Paul Biya and Idris Derby as together been in power for nearly a century. Does this makes sense? It couldn’t possibly get any dumber than this right? WRONG !! Obmas solution to the Syrian crises is to provide training and financial aid to the so called “Free Syrian Army”, group know to burn down churches and kill Christians even before ISIS became involved. Now this stupid man spends $500 million. (Five hundred million United States Dollars full Stop) training 50 (FIFTY MEN), these 50 men is what the U.S is depending on to topple the Syrian Regime and put ISIS in check. As at yesterday only 5 (Five) of these fight remain. The rest capture not by Assad but ISIS, the weapons and Tanks he provided ceased. Yet we cringe when Donald Trump says in bold terns that the United States is led by STUPID people.
If I am an extra-terrestrial looking down it will be extremely difficult differential humans from animals in intellectual capacity. There are 6 billion people in the world yet we allow a group of terrorists number roughly 100,000 and a news media bent on negativity destroy our world in our own very eyes while we watch. The world has never been this messed up since WW2. Never in the field of human conflict have so much destruction owed to so few.
venom unleashed oga oje, i must admit u hit a chord
Oga Augustine, I have one question and be honest. Has the SU-30 proven in actual combat? This notion that the F-15 or F-16 will fall down flat in the face of Russian fighters never ceases to amaze me, can we base our declaration on facts? Russian fighters are legendary, very good but often times they try too hard to compensate for its deficiency in modern avionics, China today makes better avionics and has integrated American and French tech into their own indegenous fighters. If Russian jets were that superior trust me half of the Chinese airforce will be made in Russia. China has lisences to build some Flankers you know. The F-15 is the only figher with a %100 record. No F-15 have been lost to any other jet. I’ve seen Russian airshow were very good fighters are still plagued with reliability issues. Outside of YouTube no Russian fighter Jet have been proven in real combat on a massive scale. They are super manoeuvrable yes but in an actual airway Russian front line fighters will not survive the modern battlet field. They are less trained, less integrated into a unified networkcentric system and cannot hope to match the Americans in radar technology and precision weapons. Tell me the features that will make the F-16 fall flat in the face of Russian fighters.
Oga Oje, neither America nor Russia is paying me to market their products. I am just being factual and facing reality.
F-15 is superior to F-16 technically, so let us leave the F-16 out of the contest.
1. F-15 has a so called 100% combat success record because it has never met it’s equal in combat. Shooting down Iraqi old school jets is NOT an achievement for the F-15 to boast about. Iraqi MiG-25, MiG-23, MiG-21 were all obsolete 1950-1970 era aircraft by 1990 Gulf war.
Why don’t the Americans send their older navy F-14 jet to fight a Russian Su-30 jet and let us see show.
American F-15 jets are constantly being upgraded to current level of technology as of each current year. Iraq is an importer of jets and does not have that local capacity to upgrade every jet with every new technology that develops.
Shooting down the modern Iraqi MiG-29 was done with the aid of American early warning AWACS aircraft and dedicated ECM aircraft like the EF-111A Raven giving total air space control/jamming advantage to the F-15, plus the advantage of numbers where most of the Iraqi air force had been destroyed on the ground by B-52 bombers…..I see the F-15 victory as a fight between a dog and a lion.
2. F-15 shot down MiG-29 in Gulf war, agreed, but Su-27 Flanker also shot down MiG-29 in Badme war Ethiopia Vs Eritrea, and the Su-27 had no AWACS or dedicated ECM aircraft support.
3. F-15 has never met Su-27 or Su-30 in combat, but the Su-27 equally has a 100% combat success record. Then the Su-30 is technically superior to the Su-27.
Meanwhile, Iraqi claims of air to air victory over NATO jets like the British Tornado were being denied by the more powerful western media that can quench an Iraqi claim, the west attributed their Tornado jet loss to a crash, the Iraqi’s claim it was shot down by their MiG-29.
American pilots are better trained than Iraqi pilots. The Americans designed and built the F-15 and have mastered it. Iraq imported the MiG-29 from the country that built it and learn operating it.
The day an average American pilot flies a lone F-15 to engage an average Russian pilot flying a lone Su-30, we will see who is the boss between western jets and eastern jets. I have watched a video of Algerian air force Su-30 Flanker using super-maneuverability and evading a close range enemy missile in a close range dogfight in war games.
A fair test of weapon superiority will be a USA vs Russia war. Forget about USA fighting 3rd world countries.
Thank you. Happy weekend.
Oga Augustine. I asked a simple question, any real time combat experience on these so called superior aircrafts. I’ve heard these ” they fought 3rd world countries, let them fight ……” banter over and over again, Do you have any idea the huge logistical challenge it takes to fight a wzr thousands of miles away? Russia got its nose bloodied by the Mujahideen in A-Stan and lost 28,0000 men. In Chechya they got bloodied and resorted to levelling an entire Town just to break the deadlock. In Georgia they lost 4 strategic bombers and 6 SU-27’s. All these are tiny next door neighbors. You really think the Russian war machine is all powerful don’t you?. Russia cannot hope to carry out operations 500 miles from shore let alone across the Atlantic. Their one and only attempt on projecting power ended in an embarrassing defeat in the Russo-Japanese conflict. If Russia losses aircraft on that scale against next door neighbor what hope does it have against a foe like the United States. Face it, Russia’ s only military strength is in its nuclear arsenal. I repeat again my assertion, encounters between Russians and American jets have always ended with Russian fighters blotted out of the sky. It’s nearing 2 decades since the F-22 rolled out yet Russia is yet to field it’s own. In 15 years all they’ve manage to do is roll out a prototype. Putting powerful vector thrust engines on a flanker so it can dance ballet in airshow for YouTube does not make it the best. Simply put, the guys at the Skunk works will have the upper hand. Better RnD, better funding, better infrastructural base attracting the best pool of engineers all over the world. This is why U.S fighters always come out top. From its B-2 spirits to its B1-lancers, to the Silent eagle.
You talk a lot about upgrade, why not? As technology improves, better radars and sensors can easily be integrated without starting an entire new programs. This is why America’s legacy fighters even with old airframes outperform Russia’s. The A-10 trumps the SU-25. The former now incorporates the latest in technology and precision munition, the latter still uses 1980’s technology. Until you can provide track records of combat on these fighters besides YouTube videos and air shows then your argument holds no water. You are free to be a Russian fan boy by default if it pleases you. Countries like Russia and China rely a lot on athestic appeal and show but lacks real wartime experience. Like those Chinese and Russian Hell match, impressive but will you say they have a superior military because they can match in stunning choreography? I have never seen a American, British or French Hell match, that us not the essence of today’s modern battlefield.
Bros Oje, I wish I had not wasted my time replying you. I wish you good luck with whatever you believe.
hmm…the russia/china vs us/EU banter again….
oga oje, don’t u wonder y when there is chaos and uprising in a 3rd world dictatorial ruled state THE US will b d first suggesting military intervention. When that military intervention spills and turns into far more worse chaos(terrorism) they will b screaming NATO: lets bomb this terrorist(wich themselves created, funded and armed).
2. y don’t they pick a substantial military ??
they should pick a military their size or at least half their size; not a military ⅛ their size and capability, Forget Russia or china
3. ”russia got their nose bloodied in A-stan”. hw has US fared in A-stan ?? what happened to them in Vietnam??? what is happening to them in Iraq ??
4. ”the f-15 is 100%” _who him fight with , legacy mig-21, 23?? which airforce him oppose, low class 3rd world nation???? how many comparable jets it fought??? with what aid??? “the f-15 is combat proven” __ what is the quality of the opposing fighter jet??? how many quantity of f-15 against quantity of enemy’s jet???
5. Which countries has US/NATO faced___Iraq, A-stan, Libya, Vietnam, Korea peninsula, Yemen, Syria ???? with what weaponry ????
Forget Russia/ China, infact i want them to face a 3rd world African: Algeria (after all they practice dictatorship| we can topple him for democracy??). Sure US victory is assured but i wanna see statistics compared to Iraq, Yemen, Syria, A-stan, period.
Until they show me statistics of fighting 2nd world militaries, i am yet to see them as d absolute SUPERPOWER.
Hello folks,
I will make my contribution with focus of quality of manpower for the future. By the way, the future started at least some 3 years ago; we are in that future already.
Today is year 2015. Projections towards year 2050 is a long term future plan. The nature of warfare by that future period will be totally different from what obtains currently. You and may not have a crystal ball to see exactly what will be by then, but we can safely tell and agree that it will be highly technology driven; a machine war, army of robots, man and machine fighting together side by side. So how will Nigeria military fare?
By year 2050, defence chiefs are most likely currently 2nd lieutenants ( or equivalent in sister arms). In other words, they are highly likely to have commissioned already into the military, while the GOCs and Brigade Commanders are highly likely currently in NDA.
By year 2050, Regimental Sargeant Majors, MWOs and WOs, are new recruits newly out of depot or probably among the new sets to be produced in next two years.
These are the generation that will lead Nigeria military in the future – year 2050. Now you see the future is already living, walking and working among us. This is the generation that will lead the man-machine wars.
It is safe to say that over 65% of equipment in our armories, across board, as it stands, will be obselete and probably disposed off by this future. Even the rifles will be sophisticated enough to require beyond pry school cert level of intelligence to efficiently handle and maintain in battle front. Tank and IFV crews will consist mainly of field technicians and operators- no space for nontechnically skilled soldier on board bcos each vehicle unit will require multiple skill set personells to man and maintain while afield where no workshop is; you are your own mechanics.
Communication, logistics, and other combat components will rely on so much sophisticated technology that the normal spinoff of such environment on personell/ operators is a Lean Management philosophy, which simply means that rather than keeping a high number of solution personnel to manage the technological and operational chaos, each operator is optimised to be multi skilled – 1 man having the skill sets of 3 or more different men. In other words, every tank crew member is a driver, gunner and mechanic. Your console operator is an electrician and a medium skilled computer network technician. Yes, they are all riflemen too. Like explained before, complex technology comes with higher unreliability and complex maintenance requirements. Many of these tasks will have to be done at the front where downtime is very costly, thus waiting or sending faulty equipment to the back line where the mechanics and support components are pitched is not a good idea.
This is the future; this is the army of year 2050.
My simple proposal to these end is that the military should start skewing the ratio of their rank and file recruitment from competent students from technical schools around. They form the “stem cell” of skilled technician manpower that will make up majority of the future soldiers. The future has very little rooms for unskilled men, who may only serve as clerical staff, but by then, there will always be non-combat fit skilled technicians to take up such roles and those who have some level of proficiency in useful nontechnical trades too.
I will not say much about the senior cadre because at present, it is already flooded with highly trained and multi skilled people. So it is going to be relatively much easier for this cadre to adapt. But you need foot soldiers to win battles, that’s why good focus must be on the lower segment.
Another major trend I didn’t mention above as a major attributes of future military is that it’s infantry will be of “special forces”. This means that what is considered ” special” forces today will be about the norm for infantries worldwide. The true special forces will likely be man and robots fighting units.
In my view, if we don’t make this quick adaptions within next decade, we might have to play catch up , as usual, with high cost on manpower training and haphazard recruitment programmes. Whereas if we are proactive enough, the worst will simply be upgrade or adaptation trainings. Be it locally developed or foreign technologies.
Men fight and win wars, equipment are mere tools.
nice post
Oga Nnamdi,wow is the only word I could find to define that post
In spite of threads of entreaties on this blog and other commentary sites, the NAF has not shown any serious intent in acquiring 4G jets. We can only speculate what their strategic long term objectives are.
Using the purchase of extra units of the Alpha Jet as an example, one can surmise that as much as we holler, no 4G is coming over the horizon.
Therefore a less than radical but pragmatic real world solution could be to acquire more F7s. NAF have developed operational expertise with help from the Pakistan Air Force, attrition is way down, sortie numbers are higher. If we are going to continue with the F7s (no options in sight), we might as well try to be one of the best darned operators in the world (as few as that is).
Buy another 2 F7 squadrons including more 2 seat trainers, base them at more key diverse bases reducing long range interception logistics. Shout all we want about SU27s/30s, F16s, MiG 29s, Mirages et al, nothing, because it does not fit into NAF plans. To paraphrase one of the Sherlock Holmes methods, when you have ruled the obvious, what’s left has to be the answer.
Oga AOk, your comment about NAF’s ideology, plans and objectives on 4th gen jet are believed to be correct, but your suggestion of buying more F-7 jets can make bloggers here remove your shoes and force you to walk back home barefooted.
You see, in my private heart thinking with frustration, I have imagines that thing too, like 24 F-7 jets with BVR radar, BVR missiles, PGM, IRST, ECM pod, targeting pod, recce pod, etc…..but these are dangerous thoughts for somebody to be saying here, it can cost you one or two of your front teeth.
The elusive 4th gen jet has become a NAF jinx that needs special prayer and fasting.
Haba, Oga Augustine, my feet are already tender enough as it is! Abeg o!! Perharps we are thinking too much with our hearts and not our heads on this blog seeking cutting edge (or almost) fighters. Is it about power projection, ego or practical needs?
Anyway, let’s scroll back over these threads in three years time and see what has happened in the interim. If no 4G jet has materialised by then maybe it’s you that will not only take off your shoes but walk backwards barefoot!
Have a good week.
*ruled out the obvious*
Have no fear 4G trainers and Jets shall surely come. This is a new dispensation, so much s gone to weapons procurement with so little to show in the past. Defense procurement and security issues are the most lucrative means of corruption other than managing crude oil in Nigeria-at least in the last decade.
The new thinking is (3R) review, repair and realign people to new procurement procedure before further procurement can be funded. Our president is also a man that believes in local defense capacity- the local industry awaits the manifestation of his believes by insisting on local partnership which is also been worked out. A brand new local capacity-development-centric procurement policy is been worked out.
I suspect that quit a number of subsisting contract will be cancelled-mainly due to the fact that embezzlement was more of a focal point than proper “platforms at proper pricing through proper channel” been preached at the moments. NAF will unfortunately be the most affected
This government has promised sludge of hardware replacement and military reform-it will happen but not in the very short term.
“This government has promised sludge of hardware replacement and military reform-it will happen but not in the very short term.”
I will believe this when i see it.
So does it mean every single contract done was completely corrupt and needs to be cancelled?
I doubt that. And this is where i have a problem with political Nigeria.Even america has worse corruption in defense procurement.
Instead of adapting what is good from the bad, we cancel everything and start all over.
Truly pitiful.
No way progress can ever be made on those basis.
you are right about US defence corruption. every American has thrown in the towel on that one. bottomless pit kind of thing, inauditable, systemized and systemic corruption.
@Augustine, the UAE Air Force are putting their Mirage 2000 series for sale but it seems the Pakistani Air Force might be going for those birds.
Any combat jet that is not in production again should not be acquired by the NAF,NEVER! even if it is given to us for free except if we intend to build a museum for obsolete aircrafts.
What should we look out for in buying 4G jets and trainers? How do we buy?
1. We should buy an open platform type of aircraft –We should be able to get weapons and upgrades from third parties without recourse to original manufacturer. Remember the Jags?
2. We should buy moderate tech- something that will not cost a leg and an arm to maintain, something you can train locals to do first line maintenance. AESA radars, sensor fusion e.t.c are great on paper but requires so much money to maintain-whatever we buy should come simple-we upgrade as expedient
3. We should buy something that is not politically knotty – we should not buy what we shall require permission to arm or use has we deem expedient-no matter how cost effective. A Shakabula without password can proof useful than AK47 with third party supplied password.
4. We should buy multi-role-something that can fill a lot of roles by simply changing parts. SEADs, COIN, interception e.t.c. It should be able to reach all of the land and do all the job. A core western thinking recently adopted by the east-
5. We should buy something that is at par with what others have and better than our neighbors- We are big-we should carry a big stick
6. We should buy only combat capable trainers-They can save our ass in the future-No more air beetles! ASK NAF!
7. We should buy something that will still be in vogue in 15 years time-we have a habit of buying every two decades.
8. We should buy something that has a great future-the manufacturers and users have great plans. There are some countries that if you share platform with them-you can be sure that support and upgrades will be available for two decades.
9. We should buy from mixed sources- our options should never be closed-despite heavy annual bribe in western weaponry-Egypt never really dumped the east- it s for a reason
10. We should buy a matured platform-we don’t buy often-we should be sure it’s been proven to fit the purpose
11. We should buy in quantity over half a decade (this way they won’t age together and won’t be same version-have same deficiency). With 50% serviceability we should still be able to fly 2 dozen birds. 2 dozen trainers over 24 months and 3 dozen 4G gets over 60 months is my recommendation. This is how Middle eastern countries buy
12. Buy complete technology package- simulators, practice dummy weapons, engine test bench, a whole workshop, pilot instructor training, future joint assembly contract, regional maintenance right, core maintenance tech transfer. This is how South Africa buys
Any Suggestions on combinations?
@gbash10, we need a favourable minister for defence that can override what NAF does that is not in our best national airspace security interest, a man who can move president Buhari’s heart and get favourable results.
@ Chief Solorex,
Sunday evenings are mellow times in my world but with all due respect I have to challenge you on some points you’ve made.
However earlier up, you had in response to my earlier post stated that 4G jets were coming. Where and how? Was it wishful thinking? Thinking about a new wife is different to going out and finding one.
‘What should we be looking for in buying 4G jets and trainers’? You ask.
This blog has been round the block many times with this theme, contributors have placed their thoughts and counter thoughts galore. Let’s not do this again.
Why oh why did you have to mention the Jags? I was hoping we could go a whole month without that aircraft being mentioned. Sigh.
Using South Africa as an example of procurement and best practice? Half of the Grippens are in storage! They are struggling to fly and maintain the planes.
Back to football…
Nothing wrong with the Gripens. The South Africans have shortage in trained Gripe pilots, they have just 6 qualified pilots for its fleet. That said the South Africans have the Hawks, still better than anything we fly in our inventory. Yet tomorrow one spokesman will start yapping our $7 billion has been alloted fir security bill. Let’s say the truth, does the Nigerian military look like a $7 billion military?
Is that proper strategic planning, having only 6 qualified jocks for an entire fleet of Grippens?
You are right to a great extent but the full facts are:
South African Grippen problem is very political. Technically they bought right: Great price, good specs, Denel signed agreement for local weapons integration, local maintenance and they also have a regional training school for Grippen Pilots/technicians and bought good quantity. Politically – they bought very wrong! SAF itself does not enjoy enough political support for that procurement! That is the problem
The politicians simply rubbished all by refusing to appropriate necessary funds for training- They simply do not believe keeping so many of them flying will benefit the country- they also probably believe we can have them back whenever we feel like!
They also have racial beef issues concerning pilots skin colour (very funny- there is a policy that forced SAF to have 75% black pilots-something that complicated pilot recruitment and killed morale) and why so much money should go to Denel (all white company) for keeping them flying when nobody really find a use for them except bloggers for the purpose of boasting.
We are surrounded by great friends that often allow ambition to get in the way of their friendliness, we have book haram, we have a single colour (ethnic issues are secondary in our military). There is a strong socio-political will to reassert ourselves in the committee of nations.
Talking about drones; by now we should have converted our prowess with the Air Beetle into home-grown prowess with drones. There are millions with various harnessable talents amongst our 170; indeed, the world over, in every 100 people, there is one genius; that makes for 1.7 million geniuses whose talents we can harness in Nigeria. Where are they? What is the government doing to reach them to grow our own arms capabilities?
Rather, all we hear from this government is talk about purchasing weapons from the G7.
We heard talk (without movement) about a military industrial complex.
We hear talk about probes and contract cancellations..
We hear talk about “stolen billions.”
…Then it all fizzles out.
…Talk! talk!! Talk!!! All in the wrong direction. Energy wasted talking.
Nigeria must be the first country on God’s good Earth to attempt to arm its military by rumour.
**170 million**
Oga Solorex,
We can analyse, speculate,conjecture all we want, if the military brass is not interested in aquiring new aircrafts nothing we say can make any difference. PMB gave the Joint Chiefs 3 months to defeat Boko Haram or heads will roll, say the truth, do you see that happening by the end of the year? We push Boko Haram “to the brink”, always to the brink, we just don’t know how to add that one extra nudge to push them over the cliff. We have them on the run, we’ve chased them out of their Sambisa string holdm , we’ve secured all territory and we have a War Chest of $7 billion,…..just what the fuck are we waiting for? Yesterday Boko Haram ambushed 2 buses full of civilians in Maiduguri, killing them all in cold blood. Where is the OUTRAGE? who should be held accountable?
Oga Kola I couldn’t have said it any better, brilliant insight. I first heard of the Air Beetle in 1999, I was 14 then but I remember all too clearly the razz mattaz over the made in Nigeria air beetle and what the future holds for our nation’s domestic building capacity. Now it’s a complete wreck. Waste. I am a firm believer in Nigeria. I believe we can put a man on the moon by 2020 if we really want to. I mean cmon, we build drones, we build vehicles, we build Warships. In 2008 Nigetian engineers built a Statelite all by itself. We are a nation bunching below our belt because we keep recycling leaders from the past. %90 of Nigeria’s recent breakthrough in science and tech is because for once in our history we had a new generation leader who was not tainted bt pretty civil war mombo jumbo background. Think about it. Under GEJ we
1. Became Africa’s preeminent economic superpower.
2. Became Africa’s preeminent Space superpower
3. Infrastructure improved on a scale not seen in decades. We are talking about the revival of the Nigerian railway system. High speed rail in Abuja, light elevated rails in Lagos, Mono rail in Port Hacourt.
4. Made the Nigerian financial sector the most advanced in Africa outside South Africa.
5. Instituted freedom of the Press.
For all his failings in lackluster approach in security Jonathan should be commended for his ground breaking policies.
Now we are getting stoned back to mideival times. Over 100 days in office yet no cabinet, unbelievable. Anti corruption crusade in a dysfunctional government bureaucracy and politucal witch hunting is a waste of time.
Shhhh!!! Dont say the unspeakable. you will awaken the anti Jonah Brigade.
stop sneaking pro GEJ sentiments into important discussions. a lot of the points that you guys make in the political sphere is verbose without substance. Africa’s economic superpower and space power?… jesus , you actually believe that?. Please understand that oil price is down to $40 a barrel and we are exactly where we should be . Infrastructure on a scale never before seen..that is also a joke. Nigeria’s golden age of infrastructure was Gowon regime. It was at its height in 1975. GEJ did nothing for the financial sector, it was all inherited from the PDP dalliance with the west and the Obj recruitment of Okonjo, Aganga, Bode Augusto and so on from western sponsored global financial agencies. a lot of those PDP programs with fancy financial descriptors were not impact full to the real sector. Refineries, LNG, Steel and Petrochemicals were never really developed with our $100 per barrel fueled economic growth. Kindly tell me how many OPEC countries and non OPEC oil producers are feeling the bottom drop out like we are doing now?….only Nigeria.
The only positive is Press freedom.
It is important to stop building up l9cal politicians and crediting the wrong persons for development and new programms services and growth just because they held.
For Nigeria to have meaningful and sustainable industrial growth we need BASIC industries on a large enough scale.:
Steel
Foundries
Petrochemicals
Precious metal smelting and foundries
Electric motors and generator manufacturing
Machine tools / CAD / CAM excellence centers
etc.c
The foundation for all these things were laid in the 70s in the old fashioned National Development Plans by the military regimes and scuttled by the civillian regimes that succeeded them. You can do your research to prove me wrong.
Without these things in 0lace we are not on the road at all to economic self sufficiency every other thing is twisting facts.
*just because they were lucky to hold office*
Oga oje for once i am 100% wit u,GEJ failed in the security sector becos his chiefs of staff refuse to tell him the true in time but I other areas he was excellent,he bridged the gap of 50 yrs to that of 30 yrs
Oga Solorex, I think South Africa’s problem was a policy issue not politucal or racial. South Africa turned down Gripens offer to build a Top Gun school in their country over petty nationalistic pride because of their beef with the West. The result speaks for itself.
http://www.columbus.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123457054
Let’s hope all this pilot training leads somewhere other than the Presidential Fleet.
This confirms my suspicion. We are getting the Cobra attack helo. A month ago the Americans publicly declared they are now willing to provide the Nigerian government with weapons despite the Leahy Act. A week after America resumes importation of Nigerian oil. Last week I saw a Cobra attack helicopter, now this. The pattern checks. I think…..
we want to believe we actual have a pre- acquisition Cobra undertaking trials/evaluation in PHC as you said but we have been disappointed so many times. It is also possible what you saw were no Cobras but the NAVAL choppers Nigeria requested from bone yards in the US some time ago. when we see more credible evidence, we will believe it.
Oga Aok, well said we cannot throw away a platform that still fits into a well thought out order of battle, It is likes lots of talk of selling our obsolute armour, the question is to who?, it borders on proper strategic planning, which is a financial and situational projection to balance of current events and what to envisaged/ expect in future and the timing of activities = fleet planning.
There is no harm increasing the F7 ( with more trainer/tow set versions) to proper squadron strength and act as an active operational platforms providing fast jet experience for upgraded pilots from tere the large subsonic types and advance trainers (A-Jets) we fly. Pilots from these light attack/trainer types can graduate into the heavy metals, which we can operate in mixed formations or task flights. especially SU “quarter back” series equipped with onboard mission / attack computer s, which actually coordinate a formation of mixed types of fighter aircraft to engage Buggies (Assuming we buy a small number of 6/12 advance SU series advance fighters), A proper order of battle would not encourage throwing you most valuable asset into every encounter, ( Venezuela just lost two pilots and 1 x SU30 while engaging a civilian smugglers prop aircraft, the SU probably went off/out of the bottom of the speed envelope, slowing down to engage with guns, it would not have wasted missles worth $100K plus on a target costing $10K plus ), The international diplomatic wrangling would never allow France to encourage or sell us advance aircraft that would counter or exceed the capabilities of any of our Franco phone neighbor’s (Mirages 2000 included) except it is going to come as an unarmed sports car for running around.
We clashed with one of France’s proxies over Bakassi, they believe, there is a strong possibility of a replay in the future, and a “not too seriously armed” Nigeria was one of the facts that brought us to the negotiating table, they are not foolish or short sighted like us to arm a potential adversary.
On the Jags it was are assumption again that the Britain and France both European countries would work against each other’s interest in Africa which they partitioned under sound agreements during colonization to now support a former black colony, so much that it would jeopardize far reaching historical relationships ( we are seen as milk cows and nothing else), The Jags/Current situation was not an after taught, it was always intended to keep it as a harmless sports car ( This does not mean a serious country not waiting for “help” could not have found loop holes and turned the tide ) The Indians are not stupid and seriously battle tested to have kept the Jaguars, they offer a different type of capability in their order of battle. They could have bought a number of other types from est or west as replacement.
We need to use the current Mig-29 /Su -25 situation in Chad plus BH action in the North East to buy a sensible amount of modern fighters (SU-30s or etc) to match the threat at our borders, so we need to counter or exceed the Mig-29’s capabilities, What we need is a standard deployment of force to counter the threat and also in manageable numbers that can be kept fully operational taking into consideration the economics and finances required. ( adequate flying time of crews, enough ordinance, missles, etc for live engagements, practices /familiarization, spare parts, training of pilots, engineers, etc), in a few years from now, today’s 1st class platforms would become obsolete and none effective, if you buy a large numbers without immediate threats or use, then you would be left with a large stock of flying “T55”s, the only thing we constantly need and always gets better with age is a pool of training personnel (Pilots, Engineers, Technicians, Ground crews, etc) which can be adapted quickly and efficiently to any new technology, as these people retire proper planning and not harvesting them by suspicion after coups would retain the knowledge within the NAF’s system
It is okay to repeat what we read in the press about South Africa, but the problem is when we start saying it with all authority and no margin for the “may be”, the SAAF are veterans of lot of engagement over the decades, they have a history of planning and projecting and they have survived the bush wars without asking for “help”, it would be unwise to right off any competition, South Africa is not in any panic, they are just scaling off their spending to meet their threat level which has almost gone so low on the scale, they have kept their SAAF knowledge and experience level high, most people here have not ever spoken to or even meet a SAAF personnel to talk of high level Offocers /pilots involved in this activities.
“The South African Air Force is currently considered to be the most effective air force in sub-Sahara Africa despite the loss of capability as a consequence of defense cuts after the end of the Border War.[69] These financial cuts have brought about a number of severe operational limitations, compounded by the loss of experienced air-crews. This has placed strain on the bringing new types of aircraft into service, specifically the Gripen, Hawk,
Financial constraints have further limited flying hours on the newly acquired aircraft; it was planned to keep Gripen pilots current flying the lower cost Hawk aircraft with “Gripenised” cockpits.[70] ( NAF could continue using the F7 has fast jet operational & pilot upgrades for the heavy metals, while reducing losses to attrition like we just did during the BH encounters, and also some of th NN rotor losses, in comparison with other global crew flight hour experience in respect to the tasks to executed, we would be better with more available flight time ) It was reported in 2013 that the Gripen fleet wasn’t fully manned with some pilots re-designated as reserve pilots and others being assigned instructor roles at Air Force Base Makhado. The SAAF stated that the Gripen fleet is being rotated between short term storage and active use by the regular active pilots to spread the limited flying hours among the whole fleet. ( They are reducing maintenance and operating costs). That is planning and thinking, there is a strong correlation between the Nation’s financial strength and weapons procurement and most important maintenances
(starting to forget we are arm chair generals)
A RIPOSTE FROM JEAN, a military affairs analyst who wrote in from the Republic of SOUTH AFRICA
Oga Beeg
A lot of mis-information here about South Africa. 6 pilots for Gripen? Have these guys been reading “Strategy Page”? And do they also believe the crap it writes about Nigeria? Racial selection of pilots? Gripen in storage? Why does SAAB have a full-time maintenance office staffed with 200 South Africans then? And why do we see all Gripens at different air shows? An inexperienced defence minister went on air and complained lack of money would force her to moth-ball some of the fleet and that is taken as done?
If that’s so, why is some of the Hawk fleet, “Grippionesed” as trainers, now being designated “operational”? 18 pilots for Grippen and the rest are being drafted as instructors for Hawks. And with 24 Hawks, the Grippen pilots are not keeping current, hence the conversion to an operational squadron. I would’ve thought your military attache in Pretoria would be keeping track of such things.
Your one correspond, Captain Tobias Wilcock seems to be though.
Sorry typos – “Balance out current events”
Gentlemen, you have all spoken well. Nigeria is blessed with thinking brains, but let us hope our government can put all these pieces together and solve the jigsaw puzzle. You have all spoken well my Ogas, Beegeagle and his bloggers’ battalion.
Oga James, you are wrong on this one. Be it rebasin or not it was GEJ’s Okonjo Iweala who prefixed over Nigeria’s rise to Africa’ conic numerous uno. GEJ created the most sophisticated and accomplished Economic team in our nation’s history. We saw for the first contrary to popular perception oil actually account for less than %20 of our GDP. GEJ supported Nollywood with a $300 million grant when it became clear that after the service sector Nollywood is the biggest employer in Nigeria. Sanusi brought sanity to the banking sector and averted a catastrophic meltdown when he bailed out banks on the verge of collapse. Under GEJ a Nigerian became president of the most powerful Oil Cartel in human history Opec.
Tell me again how inncurate in calling Nigeria a Space powe in Africa. The first picture of Hurricane Katrina was taken by a Nigerian sattelite. In 2011 26 Nigerian engineers put together our second satellite, NigeriaSat-X. South Africa’s attempt to launch a sattelite into space using Russian launchpad failed 2 years ago. 3 countries in Africa have a presence in Space. Algeria has 2, Egypt has 1 and Morroco has 1. With 5 sattelites in orbit Nigeria has more than the rest of Africa combined. For a Space and Research agency created just 10 years ago that is a massive feat of accomplishment weather you like it or not.
As for your remark on political topics here, lemme put it this way. With good governance and focus nothing will ever be achieved. We can analyse, counter analyse and dissect all we want nothing is ever gonna change. If talking and analysis would make any difference Nigeria will fly 4th Gen fighters by now. We’ve been talking about 4th Gen birds for nearly 3 years now, has it made any difference? First it was the rumoured SU-25, then the Embraer Super Tucano, then SU-27,then JF-17……we can analyse for a decade if we want, if we do not get our politics right, nothing is ever gonna change. I have no time for political correctness mind you. My sole purpose in this blog is not to argue over technicals and fantasy systems all day long, my goal is to bring attention where it’s needed and push for change. If Beegeagle decrees there should be no political discussions on here then fine, at least we know there is a rule.
Very wrong. Please point to the physical structures on the ground?. Nigerias so called economic size was rebased (meaning it was probably wrong before and sort of corrected) Where are the factories, where are the foundries, where are the machine shops, where are the initial basic steps on the road to self sufficiency. NO WHERE!!!.
It is only because Nigeria has gone in terms of standards that we can tolerate these things from the government that made $100 a barrel and could have changed things irreversibly.
Nigeria’s economy is no more the largest in Africa. Take the current actual Naira depreciation and multiply by the “rebased” former size of the economy tell us whether the new figures represent the largest economy in Africa.
As for Nollywood grant. That was always a joke. The quality is still poor and the plots and screenplays are still mediocre. The business is still an organic, dis-organized and pirate abused one. Contrast with the music industry that got no FG grant but is holding its own in the markets of Europe and US.
My main issue with the last govt was unbridled value eroding corruption that was unfortunately backed by the hype of the few five performing ministers who should have known better – Power (the man i respected firvyears but dusappointed big time),Trade and Industry, Agriculture, Finance and IT.
As for the last Presido himself , he would not recognise a lot of the things credited to him if they walked up to him on a street and whacked him on the face. Joke aside.
@Oga Augustine, thank you very much, we are on the same page!
Short Term Focus of new CAS
— Bring more Alpha Jets back in flyaway condition
–Acquire more drones from China (CH-4). Upgrade the present CH-3 to CH-3A
— Bring back an additional C-130 from storage to flyaway condition with PDM in lagos.
–Reactivate the Tiger TRS-2215 and TRS 2230 Air defence radar and integrate it to the Roland ADS. AFIT should be able to do this with all the guys back from cranfield…
–Renegotiate terms and get back the MB-339 in upgraded condition from Italy. Most of the additional cost would be demmurage which can be renegotiated.
–Acquire additional munition from Pakistan & China.
–Finalise the acquisition of the Mangusta using the funds meant for the failed Cobra deal.
Mangusta instead of the T-129 ATAK? This is so wrong
so no 4th Gen fighter….Na wah o
Alpha Jets again?? Oga Zachary999, I thought the drones acquiredwere the CH 3A variant.
I think Alpha jets are in order for short term effect. No point rushing anymore to acquire new platforms. I’d rather a well thought through acquisition than rushed buying of platforms.
Let the pros and cons get weighed heavily and let’s shift our glance to a well thought long term goal rather than satisfy our current immediate needs with 4th gen tech when other solutions can be immediately deployed against current threats.
We got CH-3 not CH-3A
The guys actually advised we go for CH-3A, but you know how this things work and other considerations.. Could have got the CH-4 into the mix also.
*for
Suggestions for a minimum essential force level.
Oga Zacharry999 thanks for the clarification. This seems fair enough for the short term, we should not depreciate our combat readiness in anticipation of new platforms. The new platforms would require some time to get capable hands on and the regularisation of its operations would also take time, we should keep our existing platforms in pristine conditions for the immediate future.
Any news on 4th Gen birds…Maybe Rafales could come in…hehehehe 🙂
The used servicable A-Jets cost more than same condition SU25, coverting and flying the Frogfoot is not so complex but many times more effective than the A jet,(right tool for job), though capable of light ground strikes on fixed targets, the A jet is extremely vulnerable in multiple passes to engage nultiple and scattered an dispersred mobile targets, same goes for the F7N, once it slows down to acquire and engage at low level it get’s into the AA effective envelope. can we continue to throw away very expensive and valuable battle trained pilots ( our potential 4th Gen aircraft pilots). If the assets match the task, how come fast jet pilots are getting bullets wounds as reported earlier, the alpha jet is a fast jet trainer /light strike aircraft and should not have been field as a frontline strike aircraft. we do not have any dedicated ground strike asset. we would be better of with 6 basic , but protected SU25s or uprated MB339s ( though not very protected but offers good handling, low level and low – high subsonic speed range for ground attack)
Oga Capt Tobias, the Alpha jet is a wrong COIN aircraft, the right one is the Su-25 Frogfoot you are talking about, but the deal to buy them for NAF was killed by Abuja politicians’ corruption in the deal. Nigeria’s problem is largely with our leaders, how could PDP ever play politics of settlement by giving the Su-25 Frogfoot-Scorpion variant purchase deal to one party supporter to make fraudulent profit from? PDP played with this Boko war, and the war has played them out of Aso Rock.
NAF short term need is looking more like very short term now, because Buhari’s 3 months deadline to end the Boko war will not permit any new aircraft we do not have pilots for, so our very short term can only accommodate more Mi-35 or Alphas. Any new aircraft will be a medium term plan January to December 2016.
Quite appreciate your views, because you are on site and know what gives better than us that are away. I would still prefer the MB399s upgrades that we have had a lot of experience in training crews and technicians. The alphas, they are very vulnerable, in coin ops in a sahel type environment, unlike Sierra Leone/ Liberia with high tree canopy reducing early acquisition by the line of sight . ( I am sure NAF has revised tactics)
The Impalas were quite successful in S.A bush wars ( Sahel like environment). the low level turning arcs to align with targets for ordnance delivery is a serious issue with the A-jets ( must slow down in visual cue of the target, which are mobile in this case, they would not be exactly where you saw them last) and also the A jets’s silhouette profile for AA identification would be easily provided in a slow turn, even to unguided systems/AA guns. the MBs are very maneuverable has tighter turning arcs ( I stand to be corrected by the jocks who have flown both) and can hug the tree tops at quite decent speeds, Operated in good affordable numbers and with proper planned sequencing with timing from initial points /IP to final run at combat speed to engage targets ( ISR assets could be of great advantage in coordinating, staying above AA fire and having longer endurance and loiter time over theatre). in a series of continuous and unrelenting attacks on scattered elements could be sustained. If platforms are decked out in all air to ground ordnance delivery config, rocket delivery with good decent stand off range on AA targets,followed by bomb runs on clustered assets, trucks, ammo fuel dumps, then more rockets and gun runs with the Hinds positioned in ambush points to carryout anti -personnel and destruction of fleeing vehicle ops as well as combat rescue if need be, (The MB399 is just like a Tucano on steroids). I think if we retain all knowledge from this BH encounters we should be the most current and experienced air force around in air to ground combat engagements in low intensity conflicts and COIN. (very specialized than all out war where there are real estate targets). Pardon me, forgetting again that I am arm chair general
@Oje, the Columbus Air Force Base is also home to the T-38 Talon, we will be a huge joke if we are getting those toys.
NAF has been training in USA on USAF aircraft alongside American F-5 Tiger jet crew for some years now, we have seen photos. The new training announcement may or may not mean we are buying new aircraft. Only NAF knows what they are up to.
If you shake the US hard enough they will deliver you an insult – F-5E jets (they will call them upgraded F-5s). The Kenyans got those toys last year from UAE. Too fast for COIN, too weak for Interception, too lighly armed for CAS and SEAD. When i hear a delegation gouing to visit just one pilot learning to fly on the T-38 Talon i am very suspicious.
By the way, on the other side of the world. The Russians have significantly beefed up on the Syrian sphere with SU-30s, 24s, T-90 tanks, BTR 82, APCss and a whole shed load of other hardware.
NAF short term purchases should include cheap second hand PGMs for all our Mi-35 and Mi-171 helicopters, let’s stop this unnecessary damage to our combat helicopters from cheap Boko Haram anti-aircraft guns used by illiterate terrorists.
A half life second hand air to ground guided missile like thermobaric ATGM costs about $15,000 while our new Mi-35 M helicopter we need to protect costs about $ 15 million. Just last month NAF Mi-35 was damaged by Bokos again, all because we cannot use guided munitions from a simple 3 km distance. This is year 2015 for God’s sake.
It’s hard to replace a shot down multi-million dollar helicopter and the two pilots lives will never be replaced from the market. We have been repeating this logic since over one year ago on this blog.
Should NAF not transfer the CH-3 drones to our army aviation? NA needs independent capability to do medium and long range battle space surveillance without NAF protocol calling for help. NAF can then buy 5 new CH-4 drones. NA can operate 5 CH-3 and 5 CH-4 drones making 10 UAVs.
In some countries, the army operates most or all of their drones.
The BH commander that took one of the towns in the NE last years was a retired /Ex Nigerian army of old Corporal or Sergeant. Just wondering if anybody ever thought or wondered what happened to the some of the defunct Nation Guard Boys ?
They were absorbed into the NA
What I am saying is never wave off an adversary, All must be taken seriously and addressed and terminated just as serious
@Kay
Your suggestions could have been useful last year when the focus was Boko Haram . Now we have to think long and medium term. If new 4th generation combat jet acquisition are a problem then how about plugging threat profile gaps with batteries of super accurate Surface to Surface missile batteries from the Eastern bloc. Theatre Ballistic Missile Systems . These things are easily integrated with sattelite surveillance and GPS targetting is possible. We would then have the strategic reach going on 1500km or more to take-out insurgent bases within or out of Nigeria and any massing conventional threat in the North East. Even ND millitant bases can be taken out with the minimum of civillian casualties. What you dont do is leave current threat assessment gaps unsealed, fold arms and do nothing like we are doing. There are many ways to skin a rat.
Oga Are James, good talk there.
These things you all propose will at best take up to a decade or more to accomplish. For us to buy 4th Gen jets it will take our pilots more than a yeat of training , more so if it’s an entirely new platform. That’s why you have Bulgarians and Russians flying Angola’s Flankers. The only thing we have now on ground is technology, this is where we should capitalise on our lead in this area. Think of it, armed Drones, Recon aircrafts, surveillance infrastructure in Space. We can home in on our lead in this area and build a defence system so advanced it will take out nearest rival 10 years to play catchup.
Oga oje Thumbs up for that but the fact is that we can’t be waiting siting dock while we do that,the best is to buy little and invest big in R&D(let me say we av a $1 billion defence budget on a yearly basics,we then use $200 million for procurement then the remaining $800 million for research)that way we will av a very good balance(if we go that way there is no way we are not going to come out no top),I hope some one up there is listing becos u are not just doing us but also yourself and generation(like I do say “suffer today enjoy tomorrow”)
Russia loses patience with Western pussy games in Syria.
http://www.punchng.com/news/russia-deploys-28-combat-planes-in-syria-us/
If Russian piloted Su-30 SM is there in Syria, you will see American F-18 avoiding head to head, Yankee knows how to harass 3rd world air forces.
You have strated with your anti American rant. Harass you say? Today America is being blamed for the ongoing migrant crises in Syria becausr it refused to get directly involved and only dragged it’s feet with strikes on ISIS targets inside Syria. When America fails to act you call them self centered who only gets involved when they have something gain. When they act you call them warmongering impetialists harassing 3rd world countries. Smh.
I agree with you on this on. OBama is an embarrassment to the United States. This guy spends $500 million training 60 men, this is what he calls America’s response. As at now of those 60 men only 4 is left, the rest killed, captured or MIA, hundreds of millions of dollars wasted, yet this son of a b**ch is ready to slam more arms embargo on Nigeria unless we support gay marriages. 48 hours ago who put a gay man in charge of America’s army. Talk of misplaced priorities. How on Earth a people as great and innovative as Americans managed to elect Obama and the obnoxious two timing bigot Hillary Clinton into public office is beyond me. You hAve to feel sorry for Bill Clinton. Did anyone see how the wife of arguably America’s greatest pot Vietnam war president goes all out of her way shouting ” I am not running for bill Clinton, I am not running for Obama, I am running for myself” such arrogance. If she ever becomes President we are screwed.
What Ivan Ivanovich should do is inject 20 thousand troops to back Assad. If another circular government falls in the Middle East I assure you we will be opening an Embassy and sending ambasadors to rh e Caliphate.
anyway things in asia are hotting up.
japan has recently taken a major decision regarding its military deployment for the first time since WW2. also India is now finally set to buy 15 US-2 seaplanes from Japan which marks a significant breakthrough in Japan-India relations.The prospective seaplane sale has been almost four years in the making, and many of the details — for example, how much Japan and ShinMaywa Industries, builder of the US-2, will allow Indian companies to join in the aircraft’s coproduction — are currently being negotiated.
The new India-Japan partnership isn’t just about strategy and geopolitics. Economic calculations play their part as well. Prime Minister Modi, for example, clearly sees Japanese direct investment in India as an important component of his plan to get India’s sluggish economy moving again. The number of Japanese companies operating in India has skyrocketed, from 267 in 2006 to over 1,800 in 2013 — a sixfold jump in just seven years. Indeed, Prime Minister Abe’s hopes of pushing Japan through its current economic doldrums have to include expanding export opportunities to India’s population of more than 1 billion.
Yet talk to Indian or Japanese officials, and one gets the impression that the consensus in both New Delhi and Tokyo is that the Obama “Asian rebalance” is largely talk without action — and that if push comes to shove in dealing with China in territorial disputes, whether it’s over the Senkaku Islands or over the stretch of the India-China border between Jammu and Kashmir, Japan and India may find a stronger partner in each other, than the U.S. promises to be in the future.
As Indians themselves like to say, “Elephants never make sharp turns.” But when they do turn, it’s well worth the wait.
source: NIKKEI
my objective in posting the article was to highlight benefit of
1.alliance with friends or would be friends
2.position ones population as a market for growth
3.link up military purchases with foreign relation and foreign direct investment FDI
4.negotiate arms purchase with a aim to boost domestic R&D capability.
nigeria has many options before it but everything depends on walking the talk just saying.
these r my personal opinion
regards.
Lol jeeez you don’t have to explain your reasons for posting any comment, nobody will rail on you. Cmon lol, let it go lol
off topic but some very interesting geo political mixed vegetable soup being cooked up
via Times of Israel…
With Erdogan seeming to waging proxy war (alleged) on China, Kurds, Assad, Sisi via Al Qaeda affiliates, Army of Conquest, Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, it is no wonder Syria and Egypt both applied to join the China-led SCO in June this year.
Thus Syria and China both share threats from the Army of Conquest ISIS that is attacking Assad and China’s Xinjiang. As Peter Lee noted, it is also worrying for the Chinese that when Palestinian President Abbas visited Erdogan’s new presidential palace in January 2015, the honor guards of 16 soldiers dressed in historical warrior costumes included a Uyghur.
and then this…
A new article reported that 3,500 Uyghurs are settling in a village near Jisr-al Shagour that was just taken from Assad, close to the stronghold of Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) that is in the Turkey-backed Army of Conquest. They are allegedly under the supervision of Turkish intelligence that has been accused of supplying fake passports to recruit Chinese Uyghurs to wage jihad in Syria.
Moreover, the Assad regime is currently still the legal and UN-recognized government of Syria, despite only holding 1/3 of its territory. If Assad asks and gives permission for Russia, China and other SCO members to assist him militarily, that would be in accordance with international law.
what happens if china decides enough is enough and decides to enter the conflict on the side of Russia/Syria/Iran.
lolzz lots of fireworks i guess and the beginning of marginalization and reduction of role for US, GCC and WEST in world politics.
some serious russian airpower deployed at a air-base in syria
again i posted it because it seemed to me the implications are far reaching and the ripples will be felt all over africa, asia and middle east.
and by the way the Indonesian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has selected the Sukhoi Su-35 ‘Flanker-E’ multirole combat aircraft to replace the Indonesian Air Force’s (TNI-AU’s) ageing Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighters, Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said on 3 September.
forgot to mention that over 20 russian warships are moving towards syria via the Mediterraneans .
it kind of reminds me of the WW2 naval convoys.
the russians are really committing themselves to the assad goverment.
hope they succeed and the isis is destroyed.
god/devil only knows how many innnocest havebeen lost to uphold the wests moralistic hyprocratic interpretation of democracy/freedom.
ISIS falls the next day external support to Boko Haram, ALSHAB etc will dry up.
Oga Augustine your opinion on what the outcome of a head on encounter between Russian and American pilot as usual holds no water. On what basis you base your assertion i do not know. To you anything American that faces Russia will collapse. Yes there have never been a U.S Russia confrontation because Putin is not stupid enough. American pilots are far better trained, better expetinced and better supported. The romanticized view of Russian and American pilots in a classic WW2 dogfight also is what it is – a pipe dream. Better sensors, better radar, better avionics and level of training means any Russian fighter pitted against an American has a %70 probability of being blown out of the sky before visual range is achieved. Russian fighters are aerodynamically agile yes, there must be a ballance. The Russian airforce will be hard pressed taking on the U.S Navy air arm much less the USAF. Now don’t be angry, it is not my intention to be constantly on the opposite side of the spectrum with you, I just want to correct your narrative.
While the Flankers may be more maneuverable it is important to note that air to air combat between fighters has seen considerable evolution since the 1940s. Progress in in sensors have permitted long range missile engagements with increasing kill probability. The extremely agile heatseeking missiles for close combat, and associated Helmet Mounted Displays or Sights ebbs away what minut maneuverable edge the opponent might have. You may not like it or choose to deny it, America leads the world by a huge margin in precision weapons and air to air.ground missiles. Missiles like amraam and aim-x9 are deadly effective and with exceptional G capability, often aided by inertial guidiance like the Araam and thrust Vector Control like the sidewinders, these missiles are almost impossible to defeat by manoeuvre. Russian fighters will always have an advantage in sheer speed, firepower,raw agility, range and manoeuvre performance. The Flankers features better high speed turns and supersonic maneorver I agree but then again Hornet have better low speed turns and high Alpha regimes, add to that advanced flight controls are the table is even. At the end it boils down to optimising where you have the lead, and that is for a Navy carrier based aircraft. Against F-15 Eagles the Flankers will have a hard enough time surving if they are u able to deny them BVR conditions.The F-15 is one of the few fighters with enough range,weapons and Technology to fight it’s war to a target and fight it’s way back. Against the F-22 it is hopelessly outclassed in sheer kinetic ability, weapons and sensor arrays, stealth and weapons load. It is an unfair fight pitting an F-22 against 5 fighters. The F-22 is designed to take on 12 enemy aircraft simultaneously and win, if not it will be a boring one sided fight.
Oje, I want to ask a question, why do you think the US is against sales of SAM’s to Assad, (I haven’t mentioned Iran)? Why do you think the US have F22’s striking ISIS in Syria? Why is there panic at the realisation that there SAM’s in Syria at the moment under the control of Russian forces? Just asking
Oga Oje, I have learnt not to waste my time replying you my brother.
Russia to defend core Syrian government areas
Mark Galeotti and Jonathan Spyer – IHS Jane’s Intelligence Review
22 September 2015
Imagery analysis of the Istamo weapons storage complex (top), and of the Al-Sanobar site (bottom). (©CNES 2015, Distribution Airbus DS/©2015 IHS)
US officials first alluded publicly to the deployment of additional Russian forces into Syria on 4 September, claiming that new housing under construction at Latakia airport, also known as Bassel al-Assad International Airport, could billet up to 1,000 military personnel. By 16 September, Washington was briefing media outlets that up to two Russian military cargo flights a day were arriving at Latakia, and that a total of 200 naval infantry soldiers had been deployed into the airport (rising to 500 by 18 September, according to briefings by US officials). By 21 September, four Sukhoi Su-30SM ‘Flanker’ multirole combat aircraft, 12 Su-25 ‘Frogfoot’ strike aircraft, 12 Su-24M ‘Fencer’ attack fighters, and numerous helicopters including possible Kamov Ka-52 ‘Alligator’ attack helicopter airframes had arrived at Latakia.
The rapid build-up of a Russian expeditionary force was troubling for the United States, given continued airstrikes by a US-led coalition against insurgent Islamic State targets in the country and Russia’s support for the embattled government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Concerned about deconflicting military operations to avoid accidental clashes, US secretary of defense Ashton Carter and Russian minister of defence Sergei Shoigu held their first direct talks by telephone in more than a year on 18 September, with Shoigu maintaining that Russian operations were “defensive in nature”. Their talks hinted at how the Russian deployment had political as well as military drivers, with Russia interested in supporting the Assad administration but also keen to recalibrate parts of its relationship with the West.
Historically, Russia has been committed to providing support for Syrian military planning and intelligence operations, although such support has been explicitly limited and distanced from the battlefield. The closest that Russia came to a combat role was its sanction for the short-lived use of mercenaries from the so-called Slavonic Corps in 2013, which only fought in a single engagement before withdrawing from Syria.
The current escalation of Russia’s forces in Syria is qualitatively, as well as quantitatively, different. What is likely to have been a battalion of marines from the Black Sea’s 810th Independent Naval Infantry Brigade has already been shipped to Syria from Sevastopol on the Ropucha-class landing ship Tsezar Kunikov . The 810th is the only naval infantry unit in Sevastopol, and a number of marines self-identified as such on social media. Their vehicles and heavy weapons are likely to have been transported separately on the Alligator-class Nikolai Filchenkov and the Ropucha-class Azov . Other Russian military vessels transiting the Bosphorus Strait have been identified that may have transported Russian troops or materiel, or brought resupply for Syrian forces.
This means that up to 350 relatively elite combat troops – who were among the unmarked “little green men” who seized Crimea, and who fought in Chechnya and possibly the Donbass region of Ukraine – have been deployed. This is by no means enough to make a significant impact on the fighting on the ground, but is likely to form a security force to protect the growing array of battlefield support detachments.
The new focus is the Latakia air base. Latakia, a surviving regime stronghold on the coast north of Tartus – where a Russian naval facility has been in operation since 1971 – is a more useful entry point for Russian military supply by sea and air, not least because it has runways able to receive the Antonov An-124 ‘Condor’ heavy transport aircraft currently being used to ferry materiel to Syria. It is also within reach of the contested Idlib province.
Russia already appears to be flying Pchela-1T reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) out of Latakia, and defence sources in Moscow told IHS Jane’s that advanced fixed- and rotary-wing ground-attack aircraft had been identified as a crucial asset that might have a significant impact on the fighting.
There is also a team from the Russian military Main Intelligence Directorate (Glavnoye razvedyvatelnoye upravleniye: GRU) attached to its Syrian counterparts, the Mukhabarat, working in the Ministry of Defence building on Umayyad Square, Damascus, according to IHS Jane’s sources. Western intelligence sources have also told IHS Jane’s that a small special forces team in Damascus is reporting neither to the GRU or to regular military cells, but instead to the Russian embassy on Omar Ben Al-Khattab Street. This implies that it may therefore be a unit from Zaslon, the highly-secretive special forces of the Foreign Intelligence Service (Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki: SVR).
Moscow’s latest move is a mix of hurried expedient and geopolitical manoeuvres. In the first instance, there is a growing concern about the fate of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, which is on the defensive. Desertions and defections from the Syrian army are a growing problem, and the supply of more and better weapons to various rebel militias, supported by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the US – especially anti-tank missiles – has contributed to a series of military defeats and forced withdrawals.
Please can everyone leave oje alone wit his american ass kissing,he is never going to change(someone that does not listen to others point of view and always think his own point of view is supreme can not and will never learn and that is oje for you(someone who does not take history as a lesson will always make the same mistake)oje open your eyes)oje please don’t take wat I wrote as an insult because it is not and please don’t come for me,
12 Deadly Weapons Russia Has Sent To Syria:
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Media/Slideshow/2015/09/22/12-State-Art-Weapons-Russia-Giving-Syria?page=0
@Oje, its all about the oil my brother. The risk of Assad falling is an existential threat to Russia because of the Qatari Pipeline (which is the genesis of the attacks on Syria). If we map the resources of known natural gas reserves in the entire Persian Gulf region, the motives of the Saudi-led Qatar and UAE in financing with billions of dollars the opposition to Assad, including the Sunni ISIS, becomes clearer. Buying the Rafale Jets for Egypt is not an act of benevolence, but a futuristic projection of influence, should everything go burst with Russia/Iran/Syria vs the Saudis. I believe the Saudis /Qatar are responsible for all these troubles.
Here’s an excerpt from an article about some of the issues:
“The Taliban derive from Wahhabism with the aid of Saudi-financed religious instruction. The Gulf Emirates and Kuwait also adhere to the Sunni Wahhabism of the Saudis, as does the Emir of Qatar. Iran on the other hand historically is the heart of the smaller branch of Islam, the Shi’ite. Iraq’s population is some 61% majority Shi’ite. Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad is a member of a satellite of the Shi’ite branch known as Alawite. Some 23% of Turkey is also Alawite Muslim. To complicate the picture more, across a bridge from Saudi Arabia sits the tiny island country, Bahrain where as many as 75% of the population is Shi’ite but the ruling Al-Khalifa family is Sunni and firmly tied to Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the richest Saudi oil region is dominated by Shi’ite Muslims who work the oil installations of Ras Tanura.”
“Since June when ISIS suddenly captured the oil-rich region of Iraq around Mosul and Kirkuk, the benchmark Brent price of crude oil dropped some 20% from $112 to about $88. World daily demand for oil has not dropped by 20% however. China oil demand has not fallen 20% nor has US domestic shale oil stock risen by 21%.
What has happened is that the long-time US ally inside OPEC, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has been flooding the market with deep discounted oil, triggering a price war within OPEC, with Iran following suit and panic selling short in oil futures markets. The Saudis are targeting sales to Asia for the discounts and in particular, its major Asian customer, China where it is reportedly offering its crude for a mere $50 to $60 a barrel rather than the earlier price of around $100. ”
At the end of the day, the Nigeria is suffering because of the game of chess being played with the price of crude oil, and the earlier we diversify the better for us as a nation.
This is a top notch post. I agree with everything. This is a multi polar world and that word is no more academic theory. There are middle powers pursuing their agenda on the global stage and world powers – the West and Russia know that they will:either stay on the sidelines and make money from weapon sales or jump in onto a side like Russia is doing. However the point is that East-West, Ideological dynamics no longer drive events. Also more important is the inner truth that capitalism did not win over communism but an amorphous phenomenon we can call a mix of Nationalism/ Religion defeated the former ideology called communism. This was predicted by the founders of Communism themselves.
Wahabbism, you have rightly pointed is the problem. The KSA and most gulf states backed the schools, charities and clerics spreading these teachings for years. The funny thing is that parts of it are natural. A rich man who is a Christian would build churches and endow Sunday schools and Bible study centers as part of the expansivenessv that come with being rich. How Takfiri tendencies and teachings entered the picture is still to be understood. Maybe the religion itself is itself open to so many interpretations and viewpoints that disagreements are always going to happen.
Anyway that is where we are. The only countries who have fiscal surpluses apart from China are theocracies and there is no way things can be different from what they are now. The west, Russia and China are small fry compared with the intensity of what is at play in the middle east and they are always going to be the pawns at the end of the day when Wahabbism goes against itself and it’s mortal enemy Shia-ism at the sane time. Give Obama a break, there is very little he can do different that won’t be much more STUPID than what they are doing now even Russia won’t “over-establish” in Syria for a long time. The risks are just too great for 5 he troops and facilities. It is not about military strength or technology.
Is it true that Egypt is buying the Mistral warships that France refused to deliver to Russia?
Oga Eyimola, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have shown interest but no concrete agreement yet made.
The French Govt has confirmed it.Egypt now has the most credible amphibious capabilty on the African Continent. http://www.wsj.com/articles/france-to-sell-mistral-warships-to-egypt-1443009701
interesting question would be who financed the deal?
saudi arabia ?
UAE?
and why?
egypt has a sizable military force, it can easily mobilize and dispatch a large contigent of troops in support of the above countries as and when required should the conditions in yemen detoriate more or far worse spill into other regions of middle east.
fun fact Mistral warships were modified for operations in the cold and icy regions of arctic,
how well will the Mistrals hold up in the hot climatic conditions?
can the air conditioning installed for colder climate perform at the same level in hot climate.
expect a lot of electronics sub systems to go haywire lolzzz
Any One with aircraft operating in a particular area would be wary of SAMs in the area, whether sophisticated or not. It constitutes a threat to their freedom of operation. Russia would get worried if US SAMs suddenly appeared in Ukraine.
I have issues with the US and the strings attached to buying weapons from them but make no mistake. they are a dangerous foe to have…make that deadly. their war machinery is awesome
@General, BEEG,I sent a link to your mail, I saw a report on Pakistani Defence Forum that ….Indonesia, Nigeria and Iran to buy SU-35 Flanker E,from Russia because it is not that costly and its with 5th generation technology .The writer, nadeem110, gave his source as: IHS Jane’s 360.
Please cyber generals, somebody should verify and confirm this report posted today.
Oga Gbash, i hail ooo! I find the story by the writter unbelievable: At an estimated unit price of between $45mln-$65mln, is the SU-35 really ‘not that costly’ ?
Indonesia want to replace her ageing F-5s with the SU-35 while Iran wants the SU-30 and Yak-130.
P.S.
Nigeria is nowere in the picture from here. But i’ll still take part in the three-day fast declared by Oga Oje. 🙂
I declare a 3 day fasting period. Let us fast and pray without ceasing that some bureaucrat does not scuttle the deal like they did to previous rumors on the SuperTucano and SU-25. Let us fast and pray that France again does not interfere. Francophone Africa remains vital to French interest, it is basically the very last foothold France have on any country and continent. They’ve lost influence in Asia, theyve lost influence in Algeria, West and Central Africa is the only region France can confidently say it has some level of control hence they will waste no time in intervening militarily if any of these ”vital assets” (Francophone Africa still pay colonial tax till this day) is threatened, Mali is a prime example. A militarily strong Nigeria with more people than England,France and Spain combined is not in the best interest of the French Republic.
If its true that we are actually buying the SU-35 jet, we should introduce some Israeli components on the our jets for security reasons.
I learnt that the PLA Air Force J-10 pilots were about to use their aircraft radar to lock on Vietnamese SU-30 jets ten(10) times in an Exercise,injecting some disruption into the Vietnamese SU-30 communications and then talking to them, to their greatest surprise and embarrassment.
If its true, it means, their SU-30 were supplied with down-graded avionics.That is why I suggested the use of some Israeli components but no French components please!
Why not Nigerian modified components, anything from Israel is available to France through very strong and old agreements, dating to the creation ofthe state of Ireal, then of cause it filters to their proxies around our borders, Ask the Egyptian about their Mirages against the Israelis Mirages. except we do things ourselfs, we are just fooling ourselfs by thinking that we are of any major standing with this countries (Western White Countries), We are viewed not more than a source of milk or a fertile cow, Israel is US, where are the cobras vetoed or the recce Aerostar drones sitting on the ground. There is always this default setting of lack of belive in ourselves.
i remember reading this info which was posted on defence.pk on june 5 2011 by lawxx and which got reposted on 1-2 blogs and which goes like this………
“News from: China’s large military forum insider “pupu”, this person is very well-informed and reliable news, has revealed a large number of messages.
According to him: Vietnam June 13 exercises, j-10 in the South Vietnamese Air Force over the lock, “Thang Long” division of a SU-30 four-plane formation in Viet Nam can not find the J-10’s case, J -10 with the fire control radar to lock them a dozen times, each frame is locked s-30 at least twice. At the same time, also cut more aircraft formation with the ground command center of the radio communications, and forcibly inserted into the communication channel, and more pilots on the good-neighborly friendly relations with the Chinese started a warm and amicable discussion.”
lets clear the facts
1.”injecting some disruption into the Vietnamese SU-30 communications and then talking to them, to their greatest surprise and embarrassment.” 😀
chinese and vietnamese operate the same type of SU30 so the chinese are familiar with the encrypted VHF/UHF/HF communication radio used by the vietnamese.
the harware is the same but the main part is the software which controls the encryption.
the necessary info ie object codes are always provided to the customer so that they can change and modify the encryption codes , frequency hopping sequence/process etc so it is very safe to state that in NO WAY could the chinese J10 have interceptedthe vietnamese SU30 communication.
even if lets say it was intercepted the j10 is a FIGHTER PLANE not a SIGNIT/ELNIT platform to fly carrying tonnes of fingerprinting/analysing/decrypting equipment necessary inorder to break the encrypted communication.
i have worked on encryption albit for a small time but i can assure u that the computing power required to break even a 128 bit key is huge.
2.”the PLA Air Force J-10 pilots were about to use their aircraft radar to lock on Vietnamese SU-30 jets ten(10) times in an Exercise.”
whats the great deal about it.
was/were the vietnamese planes in actual combat situation with the J10?
answer : no
that says it all i guess
so its upto everybody weather they want to believe this chinese blogger “PUPU” who posted it originally on a chinese military forum. 😀 😀
any aircraft or major weapon sourced from abroad will be downgraded versions.
even the chinese and indians got downgraded versions of SU30.
that is why india spent almost half the price of each SU30 aircraft back into the plane inorder to incorporate israeli indian and western technology, and china simply reversed engineered it .
i just wanted to provide additional info to the readers so that it might help them to draw their own conclusions
regards
My brothers, fast without faith is hunger strike and its leads to ulcer! NAF and FG have so much disappointed me that I will need to see the jet with Bala Toyin Chukwu in the cock pit with NAF roundel with my korokoro eyes ( not on naira land) before I believe! We are like a kid dying of hunger with pocketful of money in a restaurant filled with delicacy-Our problem is really beyond me.
Right from OBJ days we have been talking replacing Alpha jets-We evaluated ALCAs from Czech, We evaluated Honglu L15, got unsolicited offer for Karakoum K8, Signed MOU for Tucanos……spoke Highly of Textron Scorpion… tons of professional papers, recommendation……..Visits….. We spoke about dedicated COIN aircraft- if not for Boko haram we would still be considering Mi24 on paper by now or pursuing 25year old cobras. Somehow between greed and corruption the Machiss are not around-what exactly happened to our best trainers that would have relived he A-jets? As per 4G we evaluated Refurbished Su-27, Mig29 SM, Tokunbo western frames and we ended up with confusing F7- its like ending up with a bowl of garri from Eko Hotel restaurant!
After our widow makers started making widows-we considered Multirole-COIN+Interceptor+Aggressor in one-we went to see JF17-even sat in it and signed MOU, nearly got KFIR block 60 forced down our throat, Got loan to buy Russian jet of our choice (Su-25,Su-27,Mig29 SMT……) somehow we got 2 extraTokunbo Alph Jets…….
In fact continue the fast. We need Serious Deliverance-Osu mio!
Oga Solorex, na waaa o !
Most PLAAF aircrafts have better avionics. They still cannot produce a reliable jet engine, something wrong with their metallurgy i think. So they incorporate Russian propulsion engine and stolen Western technology .
The FG of Nigeria should direct the NAF to decommissioned the Alpha jets in their inventory and then acquire a substantial number of the Chinese-built L-15 advanced jet trainer with ToT.
Now looking at the JF-17 Thunder Block 2 with improve avionics,increased wing load,armament and the addition of aerial refueling probe,its acquisition will be a good deal if it includes ToT as well.
De-commission servicable and operational aircraft , that still has training value and light strike capability with the countries order of battle ?
@ Oga Capt Tobias Wilcock, Air Chief Marshall Paul Dike did called for the phasing out of the Alpha jet,he made this statement as the then NAF CAS,when he appeared before the NASS Committee on Defence(Air Force).
It was in that appearance that he shocked the whole Nigerians,when he revealed that out of our fleet of 9 C-130 Hercules transport planes, only 1 was still flying but even that one too would soon be grounded because there was no funds for maintenance and upgrade.
More so,Charles Dokubo wrote in his article titled “Nigerian Air Force in a Changing Security Environment ” that Air Commodore Okoiye had said that though the A-Jet re-roled missions tend to be far beyond its capabilities as it was used during ECOMOG Operations.Hence, the same mistakes should not be repeated with the NAF.The aircraft were acquired purely for weapons training.That warning has not been taken seriously till today.
Oga gbasho10, fully agreed with you, but should be done gradually after on going engagement and if still serviceable, should be withdrawn to it’s initial training role till it becomes economically unviable, we would get nothing at all for the sale of this aircraft, while it can still be used to trained and revise tactics learned during the engagement.
Let’s remember our Alpha jets are 30 years old, overworked, and near end of life for airframe and engine. We should not use them till age and fatigue leads to crash and avoidable pilot’s death.
Let’s also worry about the fact that we have no replacement yet, so how do we phase them out soon? The only way is to order L-15 from China, or Yak-130 from Russia. If FG insists it will only buy western, then we can copy Sweden and use Super Tucano to replace jet trainers. Any how they like it, FG and NAF, just buy Nigeria a 4th gen COIN aircraft, 4th gen trainer, 4th generation air superiority/strike jet fighter.
Push your choice down my throat and I will gladly swallow it, I will not complain about any chosen 4th gen aircraft.
Abrams is the main battle tank of US and a good tank at that.
and its export varients are watered down varients not so much in the electronics but in the additional armour add-on – to be exact the depleted uranium lined armour.
but saudi arabia got M1A2S varient which had 2nd generation depleted uranium armor atleast, if not the 3rd generation depleted uranium armor .
given the level of armour protection of the abrams tank operated by the saudies it is expected that these tanks offer reasonable protection against older generation anti tank missiles if not the latest ones.
now the identity of the anti tank missile fired at the tank got me confused, then i remembered having seen a picture of a similiar shaped launcher made by india, which is a modified version of the 9M113 launcher with additional improvements from the FLAME launcher.
and the red glow at the back of the missile which infact is an incandescent infrared bulb with the help of which the launcher tracks the position of the missile relative to the target and controls it via a thin wire that trails behind the missile.the wire is ofcourse invisible to the naked eye.
the missile in action is 9M113 Konkurs most probably the Konkurs-M varient.
The warhead penetration is 750–800 mm vs RHA.
abrams has 1,320–1,620 millimetres of RHA versus High-explosive anti-tank warhead and 940–960 mm versus kinetic energy penetrators and the depleted uranium armor is believed to be provide additional 610 mm of RHA.
lets take a generalized average ie (1320+940)/2=1130 mm of RHA + 610 mm RHA (depleted uranium) = 1740mm of RHA.
so what went wrong ?
how did a tank with 1740mm RHA ( worst guess 😀 ) get busted or atleast rendered inoperable by a anti tank missile with 750mm RHA penetration capability as shown in the video.
the first tank hit by the missile has survivors atleast 2 and its looks that the tank maybe recoverable though not certain of it.
the second tank is a total wreck but still has a surviour who is shown running away.
1.this highlights the importance of HARDKILL ACTIVE PROTECTION SYSTEM, in the modern battlefield anti tank missiles r as comon as AK47s.you never know from which direction a missile is going to hit you.having a automated and ‘alive’ system in place to tackle any threats is of paramount importance.also there is limit to human capacity to be situationally aware at all times.
2.tactics and training is much important than the weapon system itself .a properly trained crew with proper tactics and even with inferior weapons can come tops most of the time.
in the video both the tanks were seen to be alone and they got the necessary treatment.
if these single tanks were accompanied by ground troops, who would have fanned out and occupied high look out points inorder to identify and if necessary engage any active threats either by themselves or by calling on the tank to provide additional firepower, the situation could have been much better.
in the video both the tanks were downhill and static and therefore exposed to fire.
they should have alteast gone behind some cover in order to break the line of sight of anybody watching them from a higher ground position.
very poor training and zero situational awareness, especially of the surrounding topography.
3.lack or ineffectiveness of IRCM (infra red counter measures) and laser warning systems aka SOFTKILL ACTIVE PROTECTION SYSTEM.abrams has the AN/VLQ-6 Missile Countermeasure Device inorder to spoof SACLOS radio guided and infrared missiles.
infact the 9M113 Konkurs is a SACLOS ie wire guided missile and should have been neutralized by the softkill active protection system of the tank.
so
a.the softkill active protection system is not fitted to the saudi abrahms (which i doubt)
b.it was switched off (which i believe is sheer stupidity on the part of the crew)
c.it is not effective as advertised ( LOLZZZ 😀 )
d.t the fatefull moment its face was not in the direction of the incomming threat ( total bad luck, blame the gods 😀 )
all in all just having a tank wont do any good unless it is accompanied by top of the line protection systems and crewed by trained and tactics oriented personel.
months after months of seen good tanks being blasted away i think the saudies and their allies are better off using camels mounted with 73mm RCL guns 😀 heheheh hahaha
no disrespect intended though.
@ oga Lachit, please can u share me the link of the attacked Abrams tank. i can’t watch d video directly from the browser am currently using on my mobile phone.
If that SU-35 turns out true as revealed by oga mcshegz, then we must fast and pray as oga oje proposed(though am unable to participate as tomorrow is Ram eating SALAH….lol).. i had to read that post thrice to fully grasp what i saw; i already have an headache thinking of this possibility…i pray NAF bless us with at least a squadron SU-35’s (even though they won’t buy anymore 4G jets till vision 2020)…the kind thunder and lightening that will fire any politician that wanna scuttle this deal is still doing ‘push ups’…sorry for the words
Happy Salah Celebrations to all my fellow cyber-generals…
thanks
and happy festivities to all and their families
i posted the link but the video showed up again
stupid me.
i saw the video in utube
so the URL typed in will always end up in the video being posted.
u can try to right click on the video and copy the link and use it in ur mobile.
http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/aesa_radar_generations.jpg?itok=rUedEmse
Chinese and pakistani defense forums have this picture posted to claim as proof for the capabilities of chinese AESA radar for fighter planes.
from the picture
1.J-20 AESA T/R modules 1,856
2.J-16 AESA T/R modules 1,760
3.J-10B AESA T/R modules 1,200
J-10B is the first Chinese fighter aircraft to feature an AESA
the APG-80 AESA for the F-16C/D Block 60 has 1,000 T/R modules and the internal volume of the J-10s nose cone is similiar to that of the F-16.
and therfor it is safe to assume that the 1,200 T/R module claim for J10B is debatable.
most important to remember is that this is chinas first generation AESA radar which is operationally available.
therefor it is unlikely that China has been able to exceed US capability in packaging technology on their very first attempt at AESA design.
Israel was not able to design 1,000 T/R element arrays with their first generation AESAs for similar sized fighter radar.same for russia also.
Russias first fighter AESA radar, the Zhuk-AE has 652 T/R modules. also Israeli ELM-2052 AESA radar has estimated 512 T/R modules.
The only firm outside of the United States that was able to produce a 1,000 T/R element within one generation was the French avionics firm Thales with its RB2E radar but the internal volume occupied is much more.
most/all of chinese AESA radar for fighters r basically derived from israel and russia, reverse engineered or bought designs, so it is better to take the claim of the 1200 no of T/R modules for J10B with a pinch of salt,when infact the leaders in T/R module packaging technology like USA and israel have not been able do so even in their 2 and 3 rd generation AESA radars for fighters.
not to mention the cooling/thermal management system,infact the chinese were struggling with the cooling systems of the naval radars onboard their destroyers and they went to ukraine for technology and design help.
and cooling tech. for the smaller and weight/power constrainted fighter AESA radar is far more complex and difficult.
there is lot of misinformation and disinformation regarding chinese military systems online.
ultimately if u look at it the chinese have nothing to lose either way lolzzz
regards
Oga Lachit,
you have dedicated your life to ridicule and rubbish anything American. Worse you choose to do it here. %99 of your posts always end up with how American weaponry is crap, russia is king. Heck you post more pro Russian propaganda than even that of India your country, We get it. Americans sucks, their weapons suck, their Jets suck… Ivan Ivanovich is king. Can you please for the lost of christ stop inundating Beegeagle with pro Russian/Anti American shit? An anti Tank weapon killed the Abram Tank….congratulations that was awesome, can we move on to more relevant things that does not involve russia?
lol Oga Oje, let the man speak his mind, or should i say “Post”, No one here is mentally challenged, i hope, therefore people can think for themselves. Absorb the good and discard the bad, that shouldn’t be too hard.
US or Russia, we are Nigerians, that’s all that matters to me.
my post on AESA radar and related technology puts the americans way ahead of anybody in the entire world.
it is very clear from my comment.
and regarding the abrahms tank i said it is a very good tank.
but every good weapon placed at hands of poorly trained and bad tactics prone crew cannot do justice to it.
this is what i had emphasied on the abrahms tanks in the hands of the saudis.
plus the need to do inhouse upgrades on imported weapons inorder to make it at par to the weapon of the country from which it was imported.
it is also very clear from my post.
i am not po usa or pro russia
matter is ur POV and understanding of my POV (point of view)
regards
thanks i got the message
and i will be moving on
regards
This is the 26th time you have used the same line whenever someone criticise your post. Why? You seem to think this blog will fall without your input. Relax, if everyone quotes after being criticised there won’t be anyone left on this blog. Jeeez,you are one sensitive dude.
LAchit get yourself together and stop hitching the moving on Mantra *winks* you and i know that the Beegs blog is an addiction.
i have a question for you , and a suggestion so pops up if you can read me
am waiting
@buchi
shoot it
waiting for the question
If this shouldn’t have been posted, My Ogas no vex.
credit:ENDS.ng
hahahahaha, AMIR AMIR… hehehehe. AMIR no fit read Quran, hehehe… i die; i die again. Just goes to show that arerams are mere criminals and marauders perpetrating their deeds with the cloak of religion. We’ve known this since the beginning, only people that wouldn’t agree to these basic facts are religious extremists, hehehehe. go figure.
Sir Kay. I respect your hustle sir.
Sir Kay, Thank you very much, it is nice break for Russia Vs US rants that has nothing to do with what is happening in our own backyard, this shows that the prisoners are not killed on sight as portrayed by the western media. The whole comportment of the Soldiers project confidence, discipline and control. Thanks a lot and thumbs up for our troops
No prob chief . The whole US vs Russian debate tire person no be small lol
It’s no news some BH cadres are stack illiterates who are fed misinformation and propaganda to turn them against the state. The problem lies in between those trying to fill in the lack of education by filling up the population with ‘uneducation’. Thereafter the religious fanatic/lunatic takes control of these bunch and you have a massive army of idiots.
Hence why after this, massive education, deradicalisation and whatever has worked in pacifying similar insurgencies should be applied.
thats impossible. A radical cleric who cant read the Koran?
Very possible. A lot of shit going on in the world today with plots inside plots and it is not CIA-KGB games..many players involved. Pakistan for instance has captured dozens of “Islamic clerics” who could not read the Koran. Muslims bombing mosques?..?that’s a dead giveaway.
lol this guy. lol
CNN reports Nigerian soldiers rescue 270 hostages from Boko Haram as their fighters flee, leaving behind weapons, weapons that ranges from stolen artillery guns to Bow and arrows.
lol…’cleric unable to read Quran’. a book which he uses as religious cloak.
hope this video gets huge publicity, so bh ranks will see their leaders are using them idiots to do their dirty jobs. lol..
they are lucky they ain’t getting shot at on sight, probably to help and de-radicalize the mumus(idiots) amongst them. mumu follow mumu…lol…LWKMD
The leader of ISIS cannot read the Koran ! I can’t believe it !….oh crap !! ISIS self professed Jihadist cannot read the Koran!!!!!
Banki Town has just been captured again. Thought no Nigerian town is under the control of BH? okay
Negative Kay Banki was not overrun, seems Bh stepped up for a spoiler attack looking for supplies or would i say scavenge supplies, NA responded and although am not sure a Good number of Hostiles surrendered Bani outskirts however has a fluid situation
Not i meant retaken by the military. ha. It was in the news that the town has been retaken from BH, didn’t know BH was still holding towns over there
Those are not captured territory Oga Kay. Nigeria’s copy and paste journalists are unbelievably lazy and will not “waste their time” researching a story before printing. Boko Haram can not completely seize large swatches of land. They can be seige an area, they can make an area almost ungovernable by sheer violence, but they cannot entirely cease territory in the administrative term. Boko Haram is done and over with. Trying to find relevance by posting new “audio tapes” or ramping up suicide attacks will not change the status quo. The Sambisa forest is the size of Scotland and Wales combined. It is a miracle the Nigerian army we all know we’re able to achieve a feat like kicking a dug in Boko Haram out of the Sambisa. Such extraordinary feats are not reported in the West. A dozen or more countries of the richest and most powerful countries are helping Iraq, Yemen fight ISIS, here in Africa as if poverty and warlords are not enough it is sad we now have to deal with Islamic extremism in Africa and often times alone. The fighting men and women who lay down their lives and fight a kind of enemy that even the most powerful country has a hard time dealing with are never heralded. Never recognised. Never even covered, but the moment more girls are kidnapped or something catastrophic happen CNN will be the furst to break the story. The men and women of the Nigerian armed forces are heroes. The men and women of the Chadian and Cameroonian army are heroes. While billions of dollars are equipments are alloted to help countries in the Mideast fight terror yet they falter. Here we do it alone and succeed.
Africa might be downtrodden now and ridiculed. Africa might be a region not worthy of the support and sacrifice of the global community but things will change. We are not defeated, this is but the beginning. Our time will come. Someday the world will listen when Africa speaks. Someday the African race will finally get the respect and adulations it deserves. Someday. I only hope this will happens in my generation. I am proud of the Nigerian army.
Yea, i think those days of BH taking over territories are over, hope I’m right
Nigerian Tanks should have our battlefield Roland air defense riding shotgun. Against an adversary with ground attack helicopters those Tanks are dead.
As dead as a door nail in a couple of minutes.
Nigerian military claims surrender of 200 Boko Haram fighters
Lagos (AFP) – Nigeria’s military said more than 200 members of Boko Haram surrendered Friday as troops regained control of the northeastern town of Banki, from where attacks had been launched into Cameroon.
“Over 200 members of the terrorist organisation Boko Haram have surrendered today (Friday) to the Nigerian troops in Banki town,” army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.
There was no independent verification of the military’s statement, the latest in a series of successes claimed by the army against the Islamists, including the destruction of Boko Haram camps.
Usman said Banki, in Borno state, was re-captured on Thursday.
The military had earlier claimed the arrest of 43 Boko Haram suspects and the release of 241 women and children thought to have been held by the group there.
Boko Haram has previously used Banki to launch cross-border attacks, including in and around the Cameroon town of Amchide, where the Islamists clashed with security forces and there were failed suicide attacks Tuesday.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has given his military commanders until early November to end the insurgency, which has claimed at least 17,000 lives and left more than two million homeless since 2009
http://news.yahoo.com/nigerian-military-claims-surrender-200-boko-haram-fighters-145614297.html
Random remark.
Apologies if I trample on the sensitivity of Catholics. Am I the only one here who is overwelmed by the incomprehensible coverage the Worlds media is giving to the papacy? Heck if a 20 Megaton nuke were to go off someplace it still will get back page coverage. If only %10 of humanity could worship God with such mind bending fervour Humanity will never suffer. There will be no wars or natural disasters. Stunning !! Just Stunning !!!!
For under $5 million appease imagine if we have good and skillful negotiators, we could get just a squadron of this for a quater the amount we paid for that overpriced MIG-21’s. This beast is unstoppable. Weird they are going to the Boneyard in Tucson, what a waste. We need this. Titanium canopy able to withstand anti aircraft shells, add to the rotary gatling gun, the biggest gun ever mounted on an aircraft. The gun is so big the aircraft was actually build around the gun.
The A-10 is much admired, the congress however seems to. Hv put the brakes on retiring it cos there is simply no replacement. Its been argued dt d F35 can do its job but the jury is still out on that….This aircraft has been flown exclusively buy US. forces….so getting it will be………difficult to say the least. And the fear od crippling sanctions ………for Bogus reasons…….still hangs in the air……
Epic fail.
The Nigerian army has got its mojo back. Looks to be they are on track to beat the November deadline.
Gulma promotional shot.
In other news………..
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34368073
LWKMD
That’s a no brainer.
Dem no wan learn, ooooo! Arming so called “moderate” islamists backfires. Ther armed in Astan and gave birth to Alqeada, armed in Libya and inadvertentlt armed boko haram, contributed to a major conflict in Mali and left libya in shambles. Arming in syria and donating to ISIS and Alqeada. The entire Syrian intervention is a mess. They should have either taken out Assad early on or stayed out totally. Now they have created a mix thats developing into a global hydra threat.
The Americans believe the best way to extinguish fire is to add kerosene. Another commander swiftly deserted Division 30 as soon as he crossed back to Syria.
Hahahahaha………..United state policies are stupid,they are turning the whole world into one shit hole,they messed up africa and they are still doing the same thing in the middle east,America should just sit in their house because they are turning the world into one big chaotic mess,these their attitude of mister right is really getting me pissed off,I just thank God for Nigeria
Obama is a disgrace. Because of him no black man will ever live in the Oval Office again. You know Obama is the poster child for the Dumb President. Who spends $500 million to train 60 fighters to fight Assad,fight ISIS and any other armed group out there, and now they are just 4 fighters left. $500 million. At the sane time you have Russia troops and armoyred units now in Syria. Yesterday Russian fighter jets were sneaked into Syria. Recent satelite images show runways being built and i bet you Airdefebce units are enroute to protect vital Ryssian assets, now Putin calls the shot and lays the framwork for negotiations, the west are sll to happy to have a talk. Putin has achieved all this witjout spending a dime. Obama’s dumb and misguided policy stretches the capacity of the human mind to comprehend.
from what I have read the russian air defences are already in place. The 500mil is the entire budget for training 5000 “moderate” rebels. Out of which they have trained abt 100 lost about half, most of the rest have donated weapons to the people they are meant to fight. American tax dollars being used to train Isis and Alqeada. Obama’s foreign policy has been horrible. And its too late to backout. From the onset the training and weapons for the moderate forces have always gone into people who are………”suspect” to say the least.
Yet this self aggrandizing arrogant dumb ass comes to Africa and start lecturing us on the rule of wAR and fundamenral human right. He will go down as the worst President in American history.
The US foreign policy is actually top notch. Start looking at the world with Americam eyes and try to write down what their interests really are; when you do that you find that your conclusions are wrong.The US are out off the stupidity business which is very good. Stupidity business is spending 3 trillion dollars ttying to fight with military means what is bet fought with covert actions and other projective powers of nation states. They are encouraging other rich countries and Middle powers to get into the “policeman” business. There is nothing wrong with that policy. Obama did not start Libya and Syria even though his speeches during a whistle stop tour of the Arab World may have negatively inspired the Arab Spring. He was actually very reluctant to throw Gadhaffi under the bus and when the Syrian war was breaking out the phone calls between Damascus and the White House were frequent, if you re read the news of the time it was all about US refusing to lead in Libya against Gadhaffi and not doing enough to help the groups that later became ISIS. I am asking myself now what I asked myself then; what did the US know that made them reluctant to back Libyan rebel groups until the last minute. Well it was answered many month later in the death of an Ambassador attacked and killed along with bodyguards by one of the most hardcore AQ cells in history. Blame the gulf countries for a lot of these problems and blame Europe (no doubt inspired by Sunni/Zionist coalitions) for not using military power creatively in Libya and going with guns blazing.
As things stand , the Sunni Arabs have gotten everybody into trouble and the US is just making do the best it can. Sunni – Shiite rivalry is not the business of the US but they would eventually drag them in.
The US is the big guy on the street with a finger in every crime in the neighbourhood. Name it they are close to the action. I think that is how they want it for now.
The US has the only deliberately concocted foreign policy and foreign crisis engagement strategy in the world. Everyone is just playing catch-up.
lol, must be a week dedicated to bashing America. haha. Ease up people, the country is sinking as it is, self destruct is inevitable, taking the world down with it is what i find scary.
People just make unfounded comments for commenting sake. Oga Kay May i ask you how?In what sense is the U.S sinking? Its economy is recovering faster than Europe. Its military and power projection capability is still years ahead of its nearest adversaries combined. Europe is in crises, China is slowing down.. what is happening in America that will make it self destruct.? compared to them we must be a failed state then.
Oga oje, i don’t know where you live, but i live here in the US and i see first hand how Americans are suffering, unfounded comments? Are you kidding me? Do you know how many schools have been closed in New York alone? Because they can no longer afford to keep them open. How many bridges have already passed their life span without money to repair them or build new ones, And the list goes on and on.
This is a country that borrows more than 50% of every dime it spends.
Economy is recovering? Lol, maybe, but now people here arent making full wages any more, most companies now hire temp workers, that way you arent a full time employee.
Don’t fall for the skyscrappers , go to the inner cities and see poverty and run down neighborhoods the local government can no longer maintain, or military prowess of the USA, as it is today, its becoming a house of cards. You can not be spending what you dont have or can’t afford. America will go the way of the british if it doesnt stop his expansionist mentality, its simy unsustainable.
Not gonna start arguments here, but when i see American children selling bottles of water on the street to feed themselves, or graduates with masters degree working in a bar selling alcohol, or cities filled with tents occupied by homeless people, nothing about that is inspring. Look beyong the fighter jets and missles, people can’t survive on bullets, as we all know, its not edible. Being a military power with poor and suffering citizens makes you nothing but a joke. Enough said.
This is a Nigerian blog, let’s focus on our own issues
….which is why they are now putting grey matter where they used to throw money before. Obama said all these things in a number of speeches before.
A US that has all the problems you enumerated ; debt, failing inner cities, import dependence , loss of production capacity cannot be doing expansionism and be unwise on the international stage like people like @Oje expect them to be. Obama was clear on.policy thrust. There is nothing happening now that he did not promise so maybe our problem is that we are not used to INTEGRITY and walking the talk in our own politicians that is why we have called it failure. It is not failure if US set targets are being achieved.
Sir Kay, thank you, it is a Nigerian blog and we have to put out the fire in our owh house.
Sir Kay – well said. This is a Nigerian blog that should focus on Nigerian defence matters. Why so much time, energy and effort is put into US / RUSSIA geopolitics or who produces better equipment beats me. Seems we’ve lost the plot.
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND
a certain self appointed ‘super moderator’ makes his business to do senseless censorship.
this very person saw my post on abrams tank getting hit by missiles as a PRO THIS…. PRO THAT…
but it never occoured to him the implications of my post on nigerian tanks, increasing cross national arms trade between terrorists, availability of ant-tank missiles from third part state actors.
if not now, it can happen tomorrow.
a military must prepare for all contigency.
i had highlighted the importance of
1.active protection systems,
2.softkill systems,
3.IRCM systems,
4.proper training and tactics prefferable through integrated and networked tank stimulators to prepare against all possible combat scenarios.
are all the above mentioned systems available with the armoured crops,
if yes very good then no need to worry about the future.
if not then acquire then or better still develop some of them inhouse.
especially the tank stimulators, i believe nigeria already possess stimulators for helis so it already has the experience , info to work on.
all these technology i have mentioned if developed can be used in APC,MRAPS, SOFT SKINNED VEHICLES etc in addition to tanks.
apart from fighting the terrorists, it will increase the potency of the nigerian military manyfolds for god forbid any future terrotorial threats.
lastly some (one) will view this post from the narrow prism of my nationality,
while the pragmatic and realistic ones will understand my POV.
regards
Funny thing is that I had posted a similar video earlier on, praying for better protection for our tanks. Anyways, thanks to the benevolent Obama, we will soon see how “Russian specs” T 90s and “American specs” fare against top of the line Kornets and TOW missiles. Maybe it will help our poliTHIEFcians choose between the Russian / Isreali triple protection system and the American / British single SUPER armour protection system.
yes i agree
it is not about being pro this and pro that…
this is a defence blog and not some social blog
anything relevant posted must be seen in light of nigeria military perspective.
i was taught in school that there r 2 possible ways to gain knowledge
1.via ones own personal experience
2.via somebody elses personal experience
how u mix and match the 2 depends on ur ability to take calculated risks and bear the outcomes regardless of the chances of failures.
this same rule applies everywhere but with increasing complexities and inceasing factors.
the basic rule being the same.
why to u think most nations have defence attache posted at their embassies abroad.
the aim is to keep a look out on info eg excersies , doctrines , training , R&D being carried out in other countries in short to learn from the various experiences of the other countries .
this is just the tip of the iceberg.
why do u think nigerian army goes on excercises and training with other nations be it us , russia india etc i.e to learn and in return, to teach .
all the insurgencies conflicts etc going on has important lessons for every nations military to learn , infact the information is too large to even comprehend.
how much u learn from other peoples failres will determine how less u sweat and bleed in a similiar situation.
due to lack of info and different tank warfare doctrines being followed people get confused and fall in to the trap of say this tank is good and that tank is bad.
every tank is designed to work with withen a defined warfare doctrine , russian philosophy was to have a mechanically simple, agile and light weight tank that would exploit gaps in enemies defence and make quick inroads, they wanted the numbers to count ie suporierity in numbers. while the nato believed in using their tanks as armoured pillboxes which will bear the main brunt of any attack.
i have perhaps oversimplied the facts, but the basic fact is as i have said.
over a give period of time both the east and the west have evolve their tanks in line with their evolving tank warfare doctrines.
i am not sure since i have little info on nigerian armoured crops, but i can make a guess that is nigerian army having operated both western and russian tanks , NA must have amalgated the best from both sides. noteworthy is the fact that i have seen nigerian t72 accompanied by ground troops a tactic used and pioneered by the british especially good for dealing with entranched and surprise ambush by awaiting/ already alerted enemies.
use of IFV like bmp 1 indicates russian doctrine of using of highly mobile firepower to suppress, flush, out flank and take out anti tank enemy troops , soft screen vehicles etc, seize beach heads and disembark troops to hold the beach heads for advancing or accompanying tanks just like the blitzkrieg.
recent use of helicopters for supporting accompanying armour and troops indicates use of us doctrine of highly mobile warfare and combined air – ground warfare for quicker and better results.
so whats the point of pro this and pro that .
point being learn the best from any where u can.
sorry for long post
bad habits die hard i guess
Oga Eugene, let us be pragmatic here and view things from a neutral point of view in what is best for our country, because if we use nationalistic sentiments dictate the tune of our beloved country we are doomed. Nigeria is America’s biggest and most strategic ally in Africa. This diplomatic friendship has never been based on weapons systems but on economic and sometimes diplomatic issues. Obama is an Ass yes, he is a saboteur yes, but then again what business has Nigeria begging America for arms? Im still dont get it. We have never employed the use of American weapons on our military, we dont even adopt their training and by God in the unlikely event they decide to sell weapons to us we probably will not be able to afford and being a country with a bad mantainance culture is will be a waste of resource,and it will be stupid clearing our oil reserves just to buy High Tech American weapons against that have no place in the unconventional and asymmetric battlefield. It takes a year and a half of training for pilots to get their wings
And it is not American national policy to sabotage our war efforts despite what America’s first black dumb begotted boderline retarded President whose stupidty and naivity is pushing the world into a thermonuclear war and all for what? to support the so called ”Free Syrian” terrorist? Clinton was democrat but was respectful and nice to Nigeria. President Bush was Republican yet was nice to Nigeria. Both countries visited Nigeria on more than one occasion during their presidency. Now in an ironic twist we have a Black man in the White House,i am talking genuine African not some 3rd or 4th generation African American. And in his two terms in office he has frayed relations between the United States and most of Africa. Before now Egypt, Israel the United States and Nigeria had a good and stable relationship. Now its a mess. Relations between Egypt and America has gone to the gutters. His constant appeasement of extreme radicals at the expense of the tiny state of Israel has seen the relationship between both countries frayed to a level not seen since Word War 2. Having Obama as President and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State was a disaster. I believe who ever becomes President next excluding Hillary will repair relations to a certain degree. Obama (like majority of African Americans) is a racist prick who does not see Africa as vital or a strategic partner.
Very simplistic and wrong.
Wrong geo political map. The Fulani Nation was an amorphous entity spreading into North West Nigeria not North East.
No ethnic group in Nigeria acts monolithically any time they do, something else is involved. The Kanuris of the North West are not subservient to Fulani and the historic tensions have always been there.
Abacha, a hot headed Kanuri took out the so called Hausa Fulani domination four years and there has bern no significant revovery in terms if influence. President Buhari is double whammy- Fulani Dad and Kanuri Mum- this explains a lot. The bulk of oil production in Nigeria is in Ijaw lands not Igbo.
The Yorubas, Ibos and Niger Delta tribes whole heartedly welcomed the COLONIALISM and all its trappings for many reasons.
The intra tribal wars within the Yorubas was extremely destructive and the British clergy and trading companies were the only mediating influence. Apart from a few labour issues and trade disputes in the East, colonialism was also embraced as an enlightening influence on the people.
Put together Nigeria is not nearly as complex as India or even the United States. The major issue with the country cannot be described in broad strokes of geo politics. They are purely human issues . There is nothing that vision, DISCIPLINE, hardwork and lack of sentimentality will not solve. The major issues are summarised in the Lord Lugard’s (who was not even educated) extreme but slightly accurate typification of the character of the “negro”. The more we work on our failings the better for us otherwise Nigeria as exists is a very good geo political and economic expression. Any divisions will not endure. We need the large market, large labour force, organized capital to achieve fulfilment for everyone.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/my-nigeria/2015/09/remember-day-confronted-boko-haram-150914121936847.html
Utter rubbish. So no one check these weapons to be sure they work before being used? Its nothing but a lack of preparation. Aljazeera with their obsession with tarnishing Nigeria’s image.
And with all the discrimination the so called captain alleged, he was still sent to a prestigious university by that same military, had training courses all over the world and even got a phd, all paid for by Nigeria. Okay.
Sir kay y are u even complaining,AJ is the definition fo a terrorist media house but let’s be realistic and take the truth From all the false news,all wat he said are true and it still happens till this very moment,I don’t want to say mush cos dis is a public forum,we need to look in house and stop hiding the bad before we will get it right as a nation
Bros,
It’s a given that Al jazeera consistently looks for negative information against Nigeria.
We all know our “brother” from upcountry, who is their reporter in Nigeria, sources this info for them. Personally i have never trusted al jazeera.
Though the report is a collection of half-truths and outright lies; BUT, it would be disingenuous to ignore some of the information in that report.
Any Nigerian who has even elementary knowledge of the Nigerian armed forces will know that their is fact in some of the assertions.
– The systematic degradation from IBB times
-The flooding of the army corps with less than “enlightened” bros from up country. We all know this.
We as Nigerians should be ready to face our demons and stop sweeping them under the carpet.
That is the only way progress can be made in correcting the decades old rot in the system…
Ha , i know, juzt find the constant negativity from the annoying.
But I’m also sure a lot of these issues are been addressed.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/nigeria-frontline-boko-haram-150927220224804.html
Damn Limeys! ! Tony Blairsville should have kept his mouth shut when Bush decided upon bombing the Aljazeera news network. They are the number one terror symphatisers.
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news/content?id=20150928000124&cid=1101
If we find small money give this China people, we fit buy half of a modern airforce o.
We go come use AFIT and joint tech cooperation with Pakistan to upgrade to western standards for avionics and targetting. NAF need make pilots, researchers engineers technicians dey work together to do tins. As we dey develop new tins nobody go know sef. Ha ha na wetin?. Dis mumu don do. FC1 china plane na open architecture for systems and other advanced aircraft dey sef.
Make we start immediately.
Lol the matter tire you so tey u Don begin speak pidgin
Haha, this oga Oje self, lol. Can you blame him, lol
Confirmed Orders for NAF
6 x Mi 35 Delivery scheduled from Q3 2016 (Late delivery due to Ukraine Conflict)
6 x SU 25
I said it and people disbelieved.
And ISR capability on all 6 x Beechcraft Super King Aircraft that the contractor “forgot” to install on 5 of the aircraft…
I am sure the ISR component money was “creatively appropriated”. The ex CDS was a notorious civiliser of military aircraft. If he does not form his own airline in a year then shame on him.
If we are going this route we need SAMs to plug air defence gaps. I knew Jonathan’s deal was more likely to be re negotiated with the partial value of work done on Pumas than a fresh order. Q3, 2016 delivery means money is very very tight.
Hmmm,
I just tire for 9ja sometimes.
3 years to deliver 6 helicopters???
Na wa, meanwhile Iraq is landing all manner of platforms in weeks/months.
The boko haram fight for never finish by that time?
God help us all.
Any way, half bread is better than chin-chin…
this is good news …nut 3rd quater of 2016 sha?!! it is well oooo.
on the aljazeera issue………them no dey try but then we sef no dey try sometimes. the problems enumerated while likely exaggerated and embellished are not totally strange to us. we all know the neglect the military has suffered in the last three decades.
still i find it difficult to believe that in 2014 our soldiers went into battle with untested and unexamined weapons. I get if the RPG is a dud but at least a good inspection should have revealed issues with the launcher.
in any case my belief is that these issues are being tackled currently and were already being tackled as of last year.
NO smoke without a fire though, we need to sit up and be proactive. no more firebrigade approach to maintenance.
Zacharry999, what about the 6x MI-35M Helicopters and 12x MI-17 Terminator1sh from Russia?
Are we still going forward with the deal?
Oga Henry easy o!!! No get hypertension over Nigeria and our military. Even these orders sef na to wait till I see am koro koro ‘cos tomorrow you go hear say na more demilitarized alpha jets dem carry come. Ordinary SU 25 go take 2 full years to land and I can bet you they will be used ones, hopefully not barebones. Me I don sign out from naija military matter till I see change with my eyes. Na siddon look I dey, while appreciating more serious African countries.
Oga zachary999 thank you.
SU 25 has some potent air to air capability on top of its CAS role but a full 4th generation plus platform is still required.
Rotary Wing platform killer and aircraft own self defence/survival is it’s only Air to Air capability role it fits, design and core use is as a dedicated ground attack, let’s not A-Jet this type at all ( No roles that it is not designed for)
So we have only goofy F7NIs for interception and no platform that can fight it’s way to deliver ordnance on an adversary. That is not good at all.
We need sophisticated SAMs as we accept that Nigeria does not have beyond border offensive capability.
Sometimes I just wish I am from another country,being a citizen of Nigeria is frustrating,how can we nw be placing order for Mil 35m when the helicopter is already 10 years and counting and the worst part of it is that we placed the order since August 2015 for only six(I can’t believe this,only six,this is a nightmare)when different countries already av this platform
Venezuela-2005 for eight
Brazil-2008 for 12
Azerbaijan-2010 for twenty four
Iraqi-2013 for four
Can someone here please tell me y Nigeria is like this?we should be going for KA 54 alligator attack helicopter
SU 25,come on!!! that jet is a cold war weapon and its over 50 years old,why are we buying like the boko haram war is just starting,Do we reason/think at all?Chad has SU 30,we should be going for for SU 35 and Mig 35(Egypt has already placed an order for Mig 35 which is coming out in 2017(we should be thinking like this))why are our war planners so dum?
Can someone please explain the reason of this stupid buy?
Your NAF leadership is very bad that is why.
Imagine that. Oga, me don tire. Na “sit down look” i dey now
THe SU25 is a dedicated ground attack aircraft and cannot be matched in this role, the SU35 is a first an air supperiority fighter and has ample ground strike capability, which is not necessarily optimized for “close” ground support, The only type that can match the SU25 Frogfoot is the A10 wart hog, which is also a cold war era aircraft and is still flown as frontline by the US ( recent deployment was to Europe)i. The Russian deployment to Syria comprises of SU35/30 as air superiority , 12 SU25 dedicated ground attack, plus Mi35, this is a battle order that covers all aspects of combat, the types bought are good for COIN ops. Chad fields only MIG29s, the French Rafales and MIrages fall into their overrall out out asset deployments ( additional and air defence assets), they are purposely parked close to the Civil terminals at the airport ( with their aerial B707 tankers) , same was done in Cote de Ivoire in Buakke, (excuse used by France to wade in and carryout direct strike at the Air force area in Abdijan ( Gbabo’s SU25s ).
This purchase is very slolw and with unadequate numbers, but we need to operate in adequate number of platforms for properly defined squadrons.
Are we getting the Elbit upgrade package with the platforms?. This is key.
NAF hierarchy has absolutely no interest in dragging itself into the 21st century. Still ordering platforms like paupers.
Maybe by the turn of this century, we will have 4th generation platforms when the rest of the world will be on 10th generation platforms.
http://www.nairaland.com/2239266/battle-field-discussion-picture-video/34
Mr Zachary999, thanks for the news.
6 x Mi 35, 6 x SU 25 for Nigeria? And delivery scheduled from Q3 2016 due to Ukraine Conflict?
There is something fundamentally wrong with military procurement in Nigeria.
I have personally advocated for the procurement of SU-25 since and this is a welcome development, however if these equipment are being procured new, what has Ukrainian conflict got to do with the delivery that it has to take 1 year?
Russia can deliver a squadron of new SU-25s coming directly from the factory in a few months, if Nigeria wants, the same with the Mi-35. Nigeria should procure nothing less than a squadron of 18 of SU-25 and at least 12 Mi-35, if the country really means business.
The few Alpha jets that Nigeria has have been over stretched, flying COIN sorties, same for the few helicopters that NAF has. In my humble opinion, the current fleet of F-7, A-jets and Mi helicopters that NAF has need to be withdrawn form front line duties and relegated to training only while NAF hauls in new set of platforms dedicated to specific missions.
If NAF and Nigerian government wants to do the needful and save the skies of the nation, here is the minimum that can be done
18 units of SU-25
18 units of SU 30 or Sukhoi Su-30MKI or Sukhoi Su-30MKM
18 units of Ka-52
12 units of Mig 31 interceptors with upgraded avionics
18 units of Yak-130
12 units of Mi 17 exclusively for transport.
Supported with a decade long, rolling, intensive training programs for various personnel both in operational and supporting roles for the fleet.
“18 units of SU 35 or Sukhoi Su-30MKI or Sukhoi Su-30MKM” I mean.
List of country in sub west africa region that operate the SU 25
Chad-2008»six su 25
Niger-2014»two su 25s
Ivory coast-unknown number but destroyed by the french air force
And these are only countries in west africa not the whole of Africa(Angola and Ethiopia etc)
This is more than shameful but a disgrace and an insult to the people of Nigeria who work very hard wit little pay but still manage to pay tax only for those fools up there to waste and put in there bank account leaving the people unprotected
Equatorial Guinea – 4 x SU25 plus 2 x trainers
I wonder how thus country works. We have the best Space based infrastructure, we don’t only fly Drones we now build Drones.We not only build Drones we are one of the Elite Few who use armed Drones….Yet, we find it extremely very hard to buy some thing as simple as a 4th Gen Jet. In nearly a decade all we’ve managed to aquire is few units of MI 24 Hind helicopters and 2 upgraded Alpha Jets. The Alpha Jets were bought as Trainer aircrafts for our fleet of Jaguars, 30 years ago we flew one of the most modern aircraft in the battlefield complete with Jamming radars and weapons suit. It stretches the comprehension of the human brain to understand how 30 years later we fly Jets not even good enough for air shows and despite a decade of constant wars the status quo remains the same. We now spend $7 bilion a year on security. Can someone help me explain how the $7 billion is being spent?
off topic
India launched its first space telescope today fourth country after the US, Russia and Japan
One giant leap for India, right? good for you guys
List of countries in sub west africa region that operate the SU 25
Chad-2008»six Su 25
Niger-2014»two Su 25
Ivory coast-i can’t remember the numbers but they were destroyed by the French air force
And these are only countries in west africa not the whole of Africa(Angola and Ethiopia e.t.c)
ARE THESE COUNTRIES BETTER THAN NIGERIA
this is more than shameful but a disgrace and an insult to the people of Nigeria who work day in day out with little pay to shown for it but still manages to pay their tax only for those fools up there to waste and put in their bank account leaving the people unprotected
We only acquired 24 Alpha jet,upgraded four in 2011,had nine more reactivated and only eleven in service at present
This has gone on for too long and it needs to stop before it is too late
God please save Nigeria from herself
We said more than this some years back answer and we were called names. We should not stop shouting . The private jets in deployment within Nigeria are the latest in world. There is no way should we leave 170million proud people defenceless in thisome manner.
It is worse. Nigeria would eventually have only 4 attack SU 25 because some potent bellied AVMs have decreed that 2 of them would actually be SU 25UB trainers before they left office. All for $400million.
http://peakoil.com/publicpolicy/the-collapse-of-saudi-arabia-is-inevitable
Gentlemen, we should please continue to advise the Nigerian government on matters of importance. Please speak out if you notice anything for national good.
= Su-25 why are we buying from Ukraine? The delay to arrive 3rd Quarter 2016 is said to be due to war in Ukraine. Why go to buy from where it will take 2 years for delivery? Who made that funny decision for NAF? Russia produces the Su-25 and have it in large numbers ready for sale and delivery in 2 weeks NOT 2 years. Why does Nigerian things have to be done with inefficiently? The jets will arrive at the ‘end’ of the Boko war.
= Is NAF getting the Su-25 Scorpion Israeli ELBIT upgrade? Please FG take note, let us have the Frogfoot Scorpion version that is 3.5 generation and most effective in the COIN role.
= 6 units will not be enough for a COIN force, but half bread is better than none.
= Is there a plan to procure extra COIN aircraft like the Super Tucano or Helos like the ATAK helicopter gunship to increase our COIN platforms? If so, good job. However, I will select Super Tucano over ATAK. How many helicopters will we have? We have enough, let’s make NAF a real airforce and add fixed wing combat aeroplanes.
We already have :
9 units Mi-35 Hind E almost new
9 units approx Mi-24/35
18 units Mi-171 Terminator
Add weaponized Pumas and Agustas, etc, NAF has about 50 armed combat helicopters for COIN operations.
How many fixed wing COIN aircraft does NAF have? None !
Alpha jet is trainer/light attack, L-39 Albatross is similar but worse, civilians have Albatross jets at home parked beside their cars in the garage, that’s no serious war bird. F-7 is interceptor and too fast for COIN role.
Please let the FG ensure that the Ukrainian Su-25 we are buying have upgrades for night and all weather combat so we don’t have complaints again by NA that they called NAF for air support at midnight but the pilot cannot see clearly and cannot engage the enemy.
My 2 kobo.
Pakistani PM offers JF-17 to Senegalese President.
@ Oga Zachary 999,that you.The likes of AVM Yisa Doko,Bello,Air Marshall Ibrahim Alfa,and late WG Cdr Ben Ekele are no more in the NAF again,kai!!! I’m having chest pain, mediocrity.
Oga take am easy ooo, make i call 911? lol
Buhari speaking at the UN General Assembly. Happening now.
You just gotta love how CNN cut it short.
They cut everybody shut. Even Putin who is making the greatest waves. Let us keep our minds on profound issues. The CNN coverage of speeches does not even apply to all attending countries.
Pakistani PM offers JF-17 to Senegalese President.
@ Oga Zachary 999,thank you.The likes of AVM Yisa Doko,Bello,Air Marshall Ibrahim Alfa,and late WG Cdr Ben Ekele are no more in the NAF again,kai!!! I’m having chest pain, mediocrity.
NAF not in a hurry for JF-17 or the western jet option. Going at their own snail pace.
There must be a reason we are not aquiring 4th Gen fighters.,maybe we are not privy, becausee it just defies human logic. One decade of constant war, attrition rate nearly triple, yet the one and all important asset Nigeria can use against an unconventional enemy is deliberately held down in a leash. Is the Nigerian airforce a helicopter airforce? $300 million will buy nearly 2 squadrons of any 4th Gen jet.
This will equally follow that the army will get a few more T-72 tanks followed by a refurbished batch of T-55 for good measure.
The Navy will target another USCGS as well as maybe another OPV (I won’t believe the expected 4 missile crafts until I see them). As for Aradu, it has gone the same way as the Jags, but don’t expect a replacement.
It would make sense if the money was being spent on equiping the standard soldier properly but all I can see on social media and elsewhere is a hotch potch of uniform types, helmets, rifles, bullet-proof vests etc.
I am still hoping………….
You being to wonder the need for the relatively significant numbers of Air commodores and AVMs in the NAF.
Correction: begin to wonder
Gentlemen, on second thought, I hope we are not misinterpreting oga zachary999 on the source country and delivery dates. Does he mean both the Mi-35 and Su-25 are coming from Ukrainian fleet and both deliveries Q3 2016 ? Or was he referring to the Mi-35 alone?
zachary999 says:
September 28, 2015 at 10:35 am
Confirmed Orders for NAF
6 x Mi 35 Delivery scheduled from Q3 2016 (Late delivery due to Ukraine Conflict)
6 x SU 25
what two new airplanes for NAF are these?
http://www.nigeriannewspapers.today/well-continue-to-bombard-sambisa-forest-cas/
https://www.naij.com/570022-well-continue-bombard-sambisa-forest-cas.html
Sorry I think I know what.
We probably now have six (6) Alpha jets equipped with PGM capability from USA Air. These last two deliveries would indicate that Nigeria has the largest Alpha Jets orbat in Africa with six of them PGM-enabled.
They are the original 2 Alpha jets reported earlier. If i am not mistaken, Zachary999 did say that the aircrafts were stripped in the USA prior to delivery.
So, no PGM capability, but I am happy to stand corrected.
Oga Are James, you have proof of PGM on the new Alpha Jets ?
No proof my broad. I blame Uncle Alex for everything. The NAF is comprehensively destroyed in terms of tradition and doctrine.
THe New aircraft according to another news paper are are 2 x Mi171s to be based in Yola
Okay. Our ” well educated ” defence correspondents called them airplanes.
The A Jets were stripped of any combat capabilities and sold as ” old war birds” as clean civil platforms while departing USA, might have been re-weaponized back to standard NAF config. Cluster bomb pods would make great anti personnel ordnance as an area weapon and would do quite well on one pass strikes ( making up do precision Missles), taking out technicals, V mounted AA, igniting ammo, fuel and enemy personnel, causing enough chaos to reduce effective and cordinated AA activities on other secondary strikes and slower paced ”Hind gunship Ops” and improve survivability of the tasked air assets.
Sorry typo, making up for absence of precision missles