Nigeria’s war against insurgency is set to get a major boost as the presidency has reaffirmed that the expected arrival of six Super Tucano light attack aircraft from the United States (U.S.) in mid-July is still very much on course.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, made this affirmation on his Twitter handle, @GarShehu, on Tuesday.
According to the presidential spokesman, already, Nigerian Air Force (NAF) 14 personnel are in Georgia, the U.S. for training on how to man and operate the jets.
She went further to reveal that another batch of six fighter aircraft would be delivered shortly after the mid-July date of the first batch.
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Shehu also posted a short video of the NAF personnel in test flight operations with the combat jets.
The presidential aide tweeted: ‘Test flight operations for @NigAirForce newly acquired Super Tucano combat aircraft.
‘Six of the 12 Super Tucanos are on track to arrive in mid-July 2021. With the remaining six shortly after that. There are 14 Nigerian pilots currently training at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.’
SNC and Embraer Defense & Security received a contract from NAF in December 2018 to deliver the 12 A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft.
The contract included ground training devices, mission planning systems, ground equipment, spares, and other related support.
The A-29 Super Tucano will support flight and combat training, close air support operations, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), armed over-watch, counterinsurgency, and irregular warfare scenarios.
In April last year, Embraer and SNC announced the completion of the inaugural flight of the first of 12 A-29 aircraft.
The full fleet of A-29 Super Tucano aircraft is being manufactured by SNC and Embraer at the Jacksonville facility in Florida, U.S.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK