The Presidency on Thursday confirmed that Nigeria will receive six new Tucano jets to boost the fight against insurgency in July 2021.
This was disclosed in a statement by the spokesman for the President, Mallam Garba Shehu.
He added that the others will arrive shortly after and that 14 Nigerian pilots are already in training at at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia ahead of the delivery.
The statement reads: “Six of the twelve 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.
“The Super Tucanos came off the production line in Jacksonville Florida and are now being equipped and flight tested. Nigerian pilots and maintenance personnel are training on these planes. Currently, the construction is ongoing, which will house the aircraft.
“The Air-Ground-Integration school is the training hub on targeting and minimization of civilian casualties.”
“At present, five Nigerian Super Tucanos are at Moody AFB in Georgia for pilot and maintainer training. The two companies released images of the sixth aircraft, which also will be flown to Moody, in a jungle camouflage scheme.”
“The painted jungle scheme NAF A-29 now moves on to mission modification at Moody Air Force Base,” says SNC. “Following modification, before delivery, NAF pilots and maintenance personnel will further train in the aircraft.”
“In November 2018, SNC was awarded a $329 million Foreign Military Sales contract from the US government to build 12 A-29s for the Nigerian air force. The armed turboprops are intended for use against Boko Haram and Islamic State militants.”
NIGERIA’S SUPER TUCANOS TO ARRIVE MID-JULY 2021.
Six of the twelve 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. pic.twitter.com/bFXrQWmXSV
— Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) March 18, 2021
Naija News recalls the federal government in February 2018 placed an order for 12 Super Tucano aircraft at a cost of $496million.
Six of those jets are now set to arrive in mid-July as confirmed by the statement from the presidency.
Meanwhile, some Nigerian soldiers, who are part of the troops fighting Boko Haram and other insurgents in the North East region have pleaded to be rotated and given a break from the war front.
The troops who lamented that they have been fighting the insurgents for five consecutive years or more, said they had hoped they would have been rotated by their commanders.
The soldiers, part of the 3 Battalion operating in the Gamboru/Ngala and Rann areas of Borno State lamented that they have overstayed and this has affected their morale negatively.
Some of them who pleaded anonymity told HumAngle that other corps have been rotated but they have no idea why they have been kept on the war front for so long.
They, therefore, appealed to the military authorities, their commanders, and the new Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Ibrahim Attahiru to look into their case.