Nigeria AirForce To Acquire 34 New Fighter Jets
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In a bid to boost its combat capacities, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is set to acquire another set of fighter helicopters.
These include 24 M-346 Fighter Ground Attack jets and 10 AW-109 Trekker helicopters.
The service had in June disclosed that it would acquire 50 new aircraft to strengthen its capabilities against armed gangs and terrorists.
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Already, the service in the last two years had taken delivery of 12 Super Tucano, two additional DA-62 surveillance aircraft and T-129 ATAK helicopters, and two Diamond-62 Multi-Purpose aircraft among others.
In a statement on Sunday, Director of Public Relations and Information, Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Olusola Akinboyewa, said the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, along with officials from the Ministries of Defence and Finance were in Italy to finalise the acquisition of the jets.
Akinboyewa said, “A team of NAF experts, led by the Chief of the Air Staff, along with officials from the Ministries of Defence and Finance, recently participated in a Programme Management Review Meeting in Italy with Messrs Leonardo S.P.A.
“The meeting aimed to finalise arrangements for the NAF’s acquisition of 24 M-346 Fighter Ground Attack jets as well as an additional 10 AW-109 Trekker helicopters to the two already procured by the NAF.”
