SternProphet:


Very good men. Young families. Great loss.
The MI 35M is $35m. Has to be mechanical failure or a MANPAD.

If it's a MANPAD, it changes everything in this conflict. Nearly a decade of fighting and no end in sight. The army is getting far worse not better.

Aura2:


The recession history of Nigeria is a rule of thumb for every sound economist.
It goes as follows; 1987, 1991, 1995 and 2016.
Stop manufacturing recession in your head.

We hear. You came late to know the underlying matter. Perhaps you were a toddler then I guess or not even born in 1983/84 to get the point here save what you read or was told and that depending on who was doing the talking and recommending the textbook you read. The crux of contention is that Nigeria is in shambles.

In lay mans language a recession is when the economy is doing badly which means when there is economic decline in trade and industrial activity in a given period. For which I inferred that the current poor economic indices reflects same pattern and trends in the first coming of Muhammadu Buhari to power as Military Head of State and Head of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) - a small cabal of men same as today.

In all the years you indicated up there none warranted Nigerians to be queuing up for bread and milk something that happened under Muhammadu Buhari in the 80's and now got worse with suicides owing to the economic hardship in the land. I could go on to punch the numbers of his first rule after taking power and now after he took power in 2015 but only if you force me to and only the blind will deny the similarities.

The point I am making is simple and a little cognitive effort will help comprehend that leopards don't change their spots. So Buhari's inflexibility and stubbornness to listen to reason means there will be no dramatic change to the fortunes of the Nigerian people with him sitting in office as President & C-in-C in Aso Rock 2019.

The man himself confesses that he has no answers to the economy and his only response is to manage what is already there showing you the man is bereft of the idea that one reason one is elected to office is to create wealth. That is lost on him and his many town criers else no one in his sensible mind will vote him twice.

A bit of history:

Raid on University of Kinshasa

Background:
Africa's very first nuclear reactor was built in the Belgian Congo. Congo's nuclear plant was installed at the University of Kinshasa in 1958. A second reactor was built in 1972, the first one dismantled and its dozens of uranium fuel rods stored at the site.

Over the years, the IAEA had recorded alarming lapses in security at the facility, culminating in the disappearance of 2 rods of enriched uranium in the '70s.
With the rebellion against the dictator Mobutu gaining steam in 1997, the IAEA in Vienna quietly approached various signatories to the NPT, expressing its concern about the facility at the University of Kinshasa. A stray mortar could wreak havoc.

The SA Plan:
President Mandela embarked on a very public diplomatic initiative to ensure the fighting would not reach Kinshasa itself. To this end, a SA Navy vessel, SAS Outeniqua, was dispatched to the Atlantic coast off Congo, as a neutral venue for talks between Mobutu and Kabila. Mobutu was persuaded to go off into exile in Morocco, sparing Kinshasa a battle to take the city.

Secretly, Mandela had approved a plan, in case the negotiations failed, for South African Special Forces to raid and secure the nuclear facility at the University. Seeing it's now past the 20-year mark for certain types of classified docs, some of this has recently been declassified. The actual SF plan and concept of operations remain classified, of course.

Fidha254:
It's been a real headache for the commanders , Alshabaab hardly fights anymore they are playing the long game of cat and mouse.. it's really frustrating even for me and I'm sitted on the sidelines miles away..

In those pics, you can even see the general body expression of the soldiers and you can tell how such incidents are so demoralising. If you not decipline, soldiers could even take 'revenge' on innocent civilians who the suspect of 'aiding' the enemy... Just look at the blast radius...

2nd pic the IED was identified and safely neutralised (that's why they are smiling)

Yes,you're right! The determined firefights have become rare. In 2011 and 12 pltn and coy sized engagements were frequent with major battles outside Afmadow,Xosingow and the last town outside Kismayu where at least 300 Al Shabaab were KIA. Many of the hard core were KIA or fled to Yemen while the less committed surrendered in droves. Those victories frankly led to underestimation of the enemy indirectly causing the El Adde catastrophe.
Also the IEDs are improved with a mechanism to direct the blast to penetrate even Stanag level B4-term escapes me for now,however .

Henry240:

Really terrible. Good men lost, aircrafts we don't have also lost.

The pain is real. The Armed Forces should come up with something to honor such acts of heroism. It's time families of the brave fallen in combat receive rewards akin to a purple heart or medal of freedom for valour. It will go a long way to assauge anguish of the soul at such a loss and boost morale which is in dire need.

Covert1:


The pain is real. The Armed Forces should come up with something to honor such acts of heroism. It's time families of the brave fallen in combat receive rewards akin to a purple heart or medal of freedom for valour. It will go a long way to assauge anguish of the soul at such a loss and boost morale which is in dire need.

Na purple heart dem wan chop?

There should be a comprehensive insurance support system for families if fallen brothers-in-arms.

.

kikuyu1:

Also the IEDs are improved with a mechanism to direct the blast to penetrate even Stanag level B4-term escapes me for now,however .

terrorist version of EFP based ied

Ie a oval copper liner on top of the explosive charge.

The resultant explosive formed penetrator though imperfect will have a good chance to penetrate even the hull of a MBT.

Henry240:
I don't know where we would start from to begin to salvage the Nigerian army. If the army performed it's role well, the Air Force wouldn't suffer some of these losses.

Henry let's not be too hard on the boys. Painful losses of men and material is the reality of war. We have already lost so many and that in turn affects the morale of the troops. No one likes bleeding where he bled before like Baga right now. This has been a long drawn out war and the symptoms we see today in the rank and file of the NA are not unique to us alone. It happened to the French and Americans in Vietnam. Overall I don't personally see the Nigerian soldier as the problem (there's always one or two bad eggs), I see the command leadership at the very top the problem.

In my proposal to salvage the situation is to start from the top. Someone should have anticipated this resurgence of BHTs and already prepared counter-offensive strategies. Right now that is non-existent. The Army under Lt. Gen. Buratai is sticking to its guns. Most Generals in Iraq were known to do so with mounting heavy losses until Patraeus showed up.

We need new set of eyes on this war, a different combat mentality. The FOBs combat posture evidently is a sitting duck for ISWAP drug-fueled suicide attacking formation. Since strategy can be open debate I'd propose collapsing the FOBs for a tactical retreat to heavily mined and defended lines in which ISWAP would be drawn into a killing field by heavy artillery and carpet bombing airstrikes. The initiative must be taken back. No commander to my knowledge appears to be thinking along these lines and the High Command clearly are loth to losing territory for fear of political reprisals for the C-in-C in an election year.

But holding ground against a determined enemy that acts like it's got nothing to lose and it doesn't comes at a high price. Collapse the FOBs, draw out ISWAP and disorientate its command leadership, rank and file with scorched earth bombings and then have a highly mobile guerrilla-like AFSF go in with speed to mop up. This might take time but is one option on the table.

I estimate ISWAP with its current strategy should have at least 10,000 fighters or a stream of it to maintain its current offensives on heavily defended bases. And this enemy is not counting the cost and one factor to that is that perhaps a high ranking middle-eastern Amir might be in our midst.

The tactical approach to executing this plan obviously should be top secret. This plan is doable with the current inventory of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Henry240:

Na purple heart dem wan chop?

There should be a comprehensive insurance support system for families if fallen brothers-in-arms.

Sure of course.

The military does have something like that. But again this is Nigeria. However a Purple Heart is symbolic.

nemesis8u:


terrorist version of EFP based ied

Ie a oval copper liner on top of the explosive charge.

The resultant explosive formed penetrator though imperfect will have a good chance to penetrate even the hull of a MBT.

Happy new year to our best informed poster! Kids,WTF do you think gave terrorists this ability? Do you think it coincidence? Captainstephen and allexpensive have you encountered these IEDs?

kikuyu1:


WTF do you think gave terrorists this ability? Do you think it coincidence?

perks part of all the unsolicited ' bring democracy movements '

Majority of terrorist tactics and improvisation is a culmination of efforts of state and non state actors starting from Mujahideen war to Bosnian war to iraq war to Libyan war ..........

End result even ur neighborhood anarchist now has access to the info

The improvised EFP was first reportedly used during iraq war , though I believe it was used first by the Bosnians ( not published by the west )

In Iraq they linked together upto 4 or more such efp IEDs in a Daisey chain in multiples along a road in an attempt to blast entire armoured convoys at a single go.

chkil0:
Algerian navy received today the second el-kasseh Class , mine countermeasure vessel from intermarine italy

el kasseh 2 , 502


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md7hSC7cufo

.

New Egyptian body armor

Hailstorm45:
New Egyptian body armor

cumbersome

Henry240:
I don't know where we would start from to begin to salvage the Nigerian army. If the army performed it's role well, the Air Force wouldn't suffer some of these losses.

Suggestions were made in the article, all of them pretty simple fixes
- standardize gear to improve supply issues
- start rotating units out of theater ( some battalions have been active for over 4 years) to improve moral and allow for retraining
- start focusing on rolling out the basics that many soldiers lack (load bearing equipment, sleeping bags, field kitchens etc) again to improve moral
- huge emphasis on basic skills and principles
-i.e.: Nigeria has a huge number of artillery tubes in its inventory, every unit in the NE should be operating under an artillery umbrella.

There were also lots of tactical suggestions in the article, but I think those are the most important.

The things some of you guys waste time on, so somehow you know it, some other wrote an article and gave this suggestions, yet you think those in the Nigerian Military didn't know or aren't aware of these things? They do.
One thing is to not know, another is to know but not give a damn.

patches689:


Suggestions were made in the article, all of them pretty simple fixes
- standardize gear to improve supply issues
- start rotating units out of theater ( some battalions have been active for over 4 years) to improve moral and allow for retraining
- start focusing on rolling out the basics that many soldiers lack (load bearing equipment, sleeping bags, field kitchens etc) again to improve moral
- huge emphasis on basic skills and principles
-i.e.: Nigeria has a huge number of artillery tubes in its inventory, every unit in the NE should be operating under an artillery umbrella.

There were also lots of tactical suggestions in the article, but I think those are the most important.

patches689:


Suggestions were made in the article, all of them pretty simple fixes
- standardize gear to improve supply issues
- start rotating units out of theater ( some battalions have been active for over 4 years) to improve moral and allow for retraining
- start focusing on rolling out the basics that many soldiers lack (load bearing equipment, sleeping bags, field kitchens etc) again to improve moral
- huge emphasis on basic skills and principles
-i.e.: Nigeria has a huge number of artillery tubes in its inventory, every unit in the NE should be operating under an artillery umbrella.

There were also lots of tactical suggestions in the article, but I think those are the most important.

The way people are gnashing and wailing leads me to believe they didn't read the articles, so I'll post them again:
https://peccaviconsulting./2018/09/17/battle-of-the-fobs-boko-haram-iswaps-2018-rainy-season-offensive-1/

https://peccaviconsulting./2018/09/27/battle-of-the-fobs-boko-haram-iswaps-2018-rainy-season-offensive-2/

https://peccaviconsulting./2018/11/30/game-changers-in-the-north-eastern-nigerian-security-situation/

Sizzorkay:
The things some of you guys waste time on, so somehow you know it, some other wrote an article and gave this suggestions, yet you think those in the Nigerian Military didn't know or aren't aware of these things? They do.
One thing is to not know, another is to know but not give a damn.

If they don't give a damn, Nigerians have an opportunity to throw them out with the coming elections. Scant comfort though, to the poor sods who've borne the brunt because basics weren't implemented, for whatever reason.

Covert1:


We hear. You came late to know the underlying matter. Perhaps you were a toddler then I guess or not even born in 1983/84 to get the point here save what you read or was told and that depending on who was doing the talking and recommending the textbook you read. The crux of contention is that Nigeria is in shambles.

In lay mans language a recession is when the economy is doing badly which means when there is economic decline in trade and industrial activity in a given period. For which I inferred that the current poor economic indices reflects same pattern and trends in the first coming of Muhammadu Buhari to power as Military Head of State and Head of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) - a small cabal of men same as today.

In all the years you indicated up there none warranted Nigerians to be queuing up for bread and milk something that happened under Muhammadu Buhari in the 80's and now got worse with suicides owing to the economic hardship in the land. I could go on to punch the numbers of his first rule after taking power and now after he took power in 2015 but only if you force me to and only the blind will deny the similarities.

The point I am making is simple and a little cognitive effort will help comprehend that leopards don't change their spots. So Buhari's inflexibility and stubbornness to listen to reason means there will be no dramatic change to the fortunes of the Nigerian people with him sitting in office as President & C-in-C in Aso Rock 2019.

The man himself confesses that he has no answers to the economy and his only response is to manage what is already there showing you the man is bereft of the idea that one reason one is elected to office is to create wealth. That is lost on him and his many town criers else no one in his sensible mind will vote him twice.

"Recession" is recession, "underelying matter" is what it is, I wont take your underlying matter analysis seriously when you mixed up the real dates of the recession, it doesn't show depth nor content.

You don't even want me to take you on the economic challenges of the 80's, I have known since I joined this forum that Nigeria has the highest number of individuals saying what they have no clue about especially in public, thats embarrassing.

Aura2:



"Recession" is recession, "underelying matter" is what it is, I wont take your underlying matter analysis seriously when you mixed up the real dates of the recession, it doesn't show depth nor content.

You don't even want me to take you on the economic challenges of the 80's, I have known since I joined this forum that Nigeria has the highest number of individuals saying what they have no clue about especially in public, thats embarrassing.

You are embarrassing to civility and common sense.

You think I expect you to vote otherwise. That would make me swim in the same mud as you. Nah! Go on ahead and vote continued mediocrity. Appalling times.

Henry240:
I don't know where we would start from to begin to salvage the Nigerian army. If the army performed it's role well, the Air Force wouldn't suffer some of these losses.

...this might seem far-fetched but following on that though might seem unfair (the world ain't a fair place anyways) as I've insinuated before the war should be expanded by exporting it elsewhere. Commanders and the intelligence community in Nigeria should devise means and strategies and take steps to export this war elsewhere. That is what big nations do as wars of this nature hardly go away easily. Except for Niger and to some extent lately Cameroon, Chad has not been helpful enough. It's time to call it quits on the big brother mantra and do the needful to protect the national integrity. We know BHT sees Maiduguri as its spiritual home and right now is dictating the nature of combat on sovereign turf but except we franchise this war and have them lose momentum we will be in a forever war whoever is in power in Abuja. It is time to start acting our size first with military spending that is at the moment a joke for the kind of threats we face.

Malian Special Forces Soldier armed with a Chinese bullpup carbine.

THE PILOT WHO DIED IN THAT HELICOPTER CRASH

Flight Lieutenant Pereowei Jacob got married on the 8th of last month (December, 2018) and he died on the 2nd of January 2019…WHAT A LIFE…..
His wife became a widow after 24 DAYS of the most wonderful day in her life…JUST 3WEEKS and 2 DAYS…KIA

Covert1:


...this might seem far-fetched but following on that though might seem unfair (the world ain't a fair place anyways) as I've insinuated before the war should be expanded by exporting it elsewhere. Commanders and the intelligence community in Nigeria should devise means and strategies and take steps to export this war elsewhere. That is what big nations do as wars of this nature hardly go away easily. Except for Niger and to some extent lately Cameroon, Chad has not been helpful enough. It's time to call it quits on the big brother mantra and do the needful to protect the national integrity. We know BHT sees Maiduguri as its spiritual home and right now is dictating the nature of combat on sovereign turf but except we franchise this war and have them lose momentum we will be in a forever war whoever is in power in Abuja. It is time to start acting our size first with military spending that is at the moment a joke for the kind of threats we face.

Exporting elsewhere? won't work,just ask yourself why they (malians,nigeriens,camerounians & Chadians) are trooping into Borno to fight.What is in it for them ( fighters and their foriegn sponsors ),why should they leave Nigeria alone? .Note that Borno has both Uranium and Crude Oil (lake Chad Area) and it's one of the most important markets to the Central African region.

60-meters OSV 190 hydrographic vessel (based on the two-vessel same design for the Indonesian Navy) to be delivered by the end of 2019 for the Nigerian navy.

Covert1:


...this might seem far-fetched but following on that though might seem unfair (the world ain't a fair place anyways) as I've insinuated before the war should be expanded by exporting it elsewhere. Commanders and the intelligence community in Nigeria should devise means and strategies and take steps to export this war elsewhere. That is what big nations do as wars of this nature hardly go away easily. Except for Niger and to some extent lately Cameroon, Chad has not been helpful enough. It's time to call it quits on the big brother mantra and do the needful to protect the national integrity. We know BHT sees Maiduguri as its spiritual home and right now is dictating the nature of combat on sovereign turf but except we franchise this war and have them lose momentum we will be in a forever war whoever is in power in Abuja. It is time to start acting our size first with military spending that is at the moment a joke for the kind of threats we face.

You sound like Deadpool

Algerian army retrospective


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjgdM6M0F9Q

Covert1:


You are embarrassing to civility and common sense.

You think I expect you to vote otherwise. That would make me swim in the same mud as you. Nah! Go on ahead and vote continued mediocrity. Appalling times.

I can't remember discussing voting with you, whichever direction you wish to vote, it doesn't mean you shouldn't have a grasp of your economic history, that's more embarrassing.

Aura2:


I can't remember discussing voting with you, whichever direction you wish to vote, it doesn't mean you shouldn't have a grasp of your economic history, that's more embarrassing.

Don't hide under the shades. We know who you are.

You might want to have the last word. A gentleman understands that so you may afterall kids are that way.

GeneralFarouq:

You sound like...

Get some basic education then come back.