Nigerian Army Brigade to be Established at Sambisa Forest .


Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Tukur Buratai, may have concluded plans to establish a Special Task Force Battalion to be located at Sambisa Forest.



Punch news online says the plan was part of efforts to re-organise the Army and take the war to the Boko Haram insurgents.

The planned brigade to be named the 29th Special Task Force Brigade under 7th Division would be saddled with the responsibility of pursuing the insurgents in the vast area.

It would also discourage the insurgents from having territories which they could use to carry out attacks in the Lake Chad Basin area.

“The brigade will be there permanently to go after the insurgents, destroy their stronghold and restore sanity in the area. The troops are very excited about the idea.” a military official says.

However, a security analyst, Ben Okezie, frowned on the planned establishment of a brigade inside Sambisa Forest, saying he did not understand the rationale behind the decision.

According to him, the move was unnecessary since the army has a division in Borno State where the forest is located.

He said the army only needs better strategies to tackle the insurgents.

He also dismissed the relocation of the Command and Control Centre to Maiduguri, saying it might not achieve any result.

NN PICTUTES

bidexiii:
Nigerian Army Brigade to be Established at Sambisa Forest .


Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Tukur Buratai, may have concluded plans to establish a Special Task Force Battalion to be located at Sambisa Forest.



Punch news online says the plan was part of efforts to re-organise the Army and take the war to the Boko Haram insurgents.

The planned brigade to be named the 29th Special Task Force Brigade under 7th Division would be saddled with the responsibility of pursuing the insurgents in the vast area.

It would also discourage the insurgents from having territories which they could use to carry out attacks in the Lake Chad Basin area.

“The brigade will be there permanently to go after the insurgents, destroy their stronghold and restore sanity in the area. The troops are very excited about the idea.” a military official says.

However, a security analyst, Ben Okezie, frowned on the planned establishment of a brigade inside Sambisa Forest, saying he did not understand the rationale behind the decision.

According to him, the move was unnecessary since the army has a division in Borno State where the forest is located.

He said the army only needs better strategies to tackle the insurgents.

He also dismissed the relocation of the Command and Control Centre to Maiduguri, saying it might not achieve any result.
 

Is ben okezie an army officer or a soothsayer? Some analysts dont know when to draw the line over military matters. I salute the courage and tactical approach of the general. One more brigade should be established to strategically cover the entire bornu state. Bornu state has a long history of over the border armed militancy owing to its proximity to border towns. With ISIS and other extremist islamic groups spreading through the sahel, this move will help thwart any incursion from the porous borders.

persius555:
Is ben okezie an army officer or a soothsayer? Some analysts dont know when to draw the line over military matters. I salute the courage and tactical approach of the general. One more brigade should be established to strategically cover the entire bornu state. Bornu state has a long history of over the border armed militancy owing to its proximity to border towns. With ISIS and other extremist islamic groups spreading through the sahel, this move will help thwart any incursion from the porous borders.

Actually for me am 100% of these mad but sensible idea. Tough times demand tough approach perhaps other commanding officers and chief's are so scared of taking the fight to the enemies so brave approach will send a message to the terrorist that the army is not joking again and the soldiers on the front line will know they are seriously in business and for a fight!!!!
Creating a brigade in sambisa will cut and stop BH activities and supplies to there fronts. And don't forget the COAS said last week is creating a special force that would be using all terrain bykes I know dis would be incorporated to the new brigade to reduce terrorist activities.

NA RANDOM PICTURES

1st pic is inside a NA amphibious boat.

2nd pic is a command and control situational room of an operating base.

3rd pic is a solder posing with a steyr sniper riffle.

US to lift arms embargo on Niger


THE United States (US) will soon lift ban on the restriction of military assistance imposed on the Nigeria under Leahy Law.
The Leahy Law is a US human rights law that prohibits the US Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign military units that allegedly violates human rights with impunity.
US congressman, Darrel Issah, made the disclosure while fielding questions from newsmen after meeting with service chiefs and the Ministry of Defence officials in Abuja, headed by the permanent secretary, Ismaila Aliyu, on Monday.
He said the development was occasioned by the policy of the new military high command, with regards to the ongoing military operations in the country.
According to him, there were a number of things that were discussed at the meeting, but basically, need for additional technical support, including overhead surveillance was discussed, because this was important in the fight against Boko Haram.
He noted that the fact that this new regime, with the new general staff, have began the process of ensuring that the military’s professionalism in the battlefield was made in a way that we all could be confident that the rule of law was followed.
The US congressman noted the process had began to lift restriction under the Leahy Law, but the vast majority of the support US provided would be given, regardless of the restrictions.
Issah said the US would provide other forms of support that would not only boost the military’s capabilities, but also create the environment to rebuild devastated communities.
He said the US, through its agencies in Nigeria, would help rebuild and rehabilitate communities and victims of insurgency in the North-East.
“The US is looking, with the president and the general staff, to work to make sure that the people of Nigeria can have confidence in the professionalism of the military.
“We are looking at something that the people will rely on when the military is trying to clear insurgents and protect the civilians, that is important to the new president of Nigeria, our president and it is important to the congress.
“But we are looking forward to a great difference in the relationship, a proactive relationship and one in which we can provide a greater level of support,” he said.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Aliyu, said the visit was a sign of the renewed confidence in Nigeria’s military on the global scene.
He said Nigeria now enjoyed a greater level of confidence and trust in the international community and stressed that it would impact on the nation’s efforts in repositioning its economy.
“The US believes in Nigeria; it has trust and confidence in Nigeria, that is why they are here and on the issue of human rights. The US is pleased with what we have been doing in recent times to address the gaps that may have existed in the past,” he said.
He added that visit was a follow-up to Mr President’s visit to the US.
“We have said it and will continue to state that the visit was of great benefit to Nigeria, as it had rekindled the hope of the two countries,” he said.
Issah led a delegation from the US congress judicial committee to the meeting with Nigeria’s top ranking defence officials.
Meanwhile, more facts have emerged as to the reason the US failed to lift arms embargo during President Buhari’s visit.
Failure of the Nigerian delegation to the recent four-day trip of President Buhari to the US to show clear readiness to discuss policy issues and lack of preparedness to iron out vital bilateral issues have been attributed to the delay.
Diplomatic sources told to the Nigerian Tribune that the US officials were disappointed about what they described as “total lack of preparedness by the Nigerian delegation”  and “poor presentation of policy needs and updates” during the visit, leading to the decision to withhold the lifting of the embargo for sometime.
Nigerian President had busied the US without a team of ministers and advisers who could carry on the discussions from the point the president stopped.
A US analyst was quoted as saying that “the government of the US and that of Nigeria appear not to be on the same page on the matter of that visit,” adding that “the body language of the American president to Buhari was that he should go back, get his team together and then come for more talks.”
The source was quoted  as saying “may be we are not reading from the same script, but the overall message by Barack is that they (Nigerian delegation) should go get themselves together, then get back  to the US.”
The US authorities, which sent delegations to the Nigerian leader ahead of the visit was said to be disappointed that the Nigerian leader cited without a visible economic team, despite the huge challenges Nigeria was facing in bilateral trade.
For instance, Nigeria relied largely on her oil sales to the US, but the US had since suspended oil importation from Nigeria.
US imports from Nigeria is reputed to have risen from more than $24 billion in 2005 to over $38 billion in 2008, but had since dropped to less than $4 billion last year.
It was learnt that the Americans were worried that Buhari did not raise concerns about the trade concerns during the visit.
The US was said to be particularly miffed that Buhari’s article in the Washington Post misrepresented facts about Obama when he claimed that the American president also did not name his cabinet many months after assuming office.
Buhari had said in the article: “It is worth noting that Obama himself did not have his full cabinet in place for several months after first taking office; the US did not cease to function in the interim.”
But American officials had countered that with facts which indicated that Obama actually hit the ground running once he was sworn in.
One official have details of Obama’s appointments  following his election in 2008 as including the January 21 appointment of Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State.
The official further said of Obama’s appointments: “On February 2, 2009, he appointed Eric Holder as Attorney-General, then Ken Salazar as Secretary of Interior on January 20. Obama continued with Tom Vislack, Agriculture January 21; Ray LaHood , Transportation January 23; Stephen Chu, Energy, January 20, and Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security, January 21.”
The source said the US had planned to lift the ban on arms sales to Nigeria during the visit, but for the way Nigerians went about the visit

Nigeria Troops Clear Gwoza-Yamteke Road Of Roadside Mines And IEDS


The Nigerian army today released a series of photos showing its engineer removing mines and Improvised Explosive Devises planted along the northeastern highway linking Gwoza to Yamteke in Borno state.


A statement issued by Colonel Tukur Ismail Gusau of the 7 Division of the  Nigerian Army reads:

“In the Nigerian Army's determined efforts to clear all roads in the North East of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by Boko Haram Terrorists, troops of 7 Division Nigerian Army during clearance and linking up operations  have successfully recovered 5 IEDs planted on the road linking Gwoza-Yamteke road.

The explosives have since been defused and destroyed by the team of Nigerian Army Engineers. Similarly, the troops conducting clearance operations in Dikwa area following routing out of terrorists in the area couple of days ago,  discovered a hideout in which weapons and equipment suspected to be used by the Boko Haram terrorists for construction of IEDs were hidden.

These includes 5 Drilling Machines, 1 Filing Machine, 2 Cutting Machine, 1 Disc Filing Machine, 52 Compact Discs, 9 Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) 7 Charges, 1 105mm Pack Howitzer, 1 BMG Tripod stand and 1 Cutting and Drilling Machine. It is instructive that the troops are more than ever ready to ensure that the Boko Haram Terrorists are flushed out, and peace is restored by all means".

More............

OPERATIONAL PICTURES


1st picture is showing tank personnel preparing a T-72 before action.

2nd picture are packed REVA 4x4 MRAP APC

3rd picture is a newly out of store OKOTA APC ready to be deployed

4th picture is a soldier on a MT-LB tracked APC.

4 BOKO HARAM MEMBERS ARRESTED IN BORNO STATE.


At least four Boko Haram militants have been apprehended by members of the Civilian JTF in Borno village three days after the insurgents raided some nearby villages. 

Boko Haram members arrested during Gvernor Kashim Shettima's visit
Sahara Reporters Media

The terrorists were apprehended in Malari village at Konduga Local Government area of Borno state. 

The arrested Boko HAram members were presented to the state governor, Kashim Shettima while on a solidarity visit to the area. Gov. Shettima was in Malari village today to sympathize with villagers after Boko Haram attack on Monday killed 9 persons and displaced hundreds of civilians, however,the governor was surprised when suddenly some youths came down from a golf car and brought out 4 young men whose hands had been tied. 

A civilian JTF leader, Nuhu Kumshise, later told SaharaReporters that one of them has been a notorious terrorists who wreaked havoc on the villagers surrounding Konduga. 

''We arrested them today after his father handed over them to us, then they led us into the bush where the two remaining guys hid themselves. '',  Kumshise said.

However, one the suspect confessed that he is members of the deadly group and he further mention the name of his leader.

Another civilian JTF Bakura ‎ Yusuf said, ''long time before now we have been told that one of the arrestees that he is the leader who used to lead attacks on us."

During his short visit, Gov. Shettima appealed to hundreds of displaced persons that camped‎ in Malari Primary school that buses will come to convey them to Konduga and foodstuffs as well as other materials will be provided immediately by the state government. 

It was gathered that 9 persons were killed and hundreds of people were rendered homeless on Monday when Boko Haram stormed five villages including Shettimari, Kammiri, Kakurami, Kalari Auwlari, Burari and Malari in Konduga local government area of the troubled northeastern state‎

bidexiii:
4 BOKO HARAM MEMBERS ARRESTED IN BORNO STATE.


At least four Boko Haram militants have been apprehended by members of the Civilian JTF in Borno village three days after the insurgents raided some nearby villages. 

Boko Haram members arrested during Gvernor Kashim Shettima's visit
Sahara Reporters Media

The terrorists were apprehended in Malari village at Konduga Local Government area of Borno state. 

The arrested Boko HAram members were presented to the state governor, Kashim Shettima while on a solidarity visit to the area. Gov. Shettima was in Malari village today to sympathize with villagers after Boko Haram attack on Monday killed 9 persons and displaced hundreds of civilians, however,the governor was surprised when suddenly some youths came down from a golf car and brought out 4 young men whose hands had been tied. 

A civilian JTF leader, Nuhu Kumshise, later told SaharaReporters that one of them has been a notorious terrorists who wreaked havoc on the villagers surrounding Konduga. 

''We arrested them today after his father handed over them to us, then they led us into the bush where the two remaining guys hid themselves. '',  Kumshise said.

However, one the suspect confessed that he is members of the deadly group and he further mention the name of his leader.

Another civilian JTF Bakura ‎ Yusuf said, ''long time before now we have been told that one of the arrestees that he is the leader who used to lead attacks on us."

During his short visit, Gov. Shettima appealed to hundreds of displaced persons that camped‎ in Malari Primary school that buses will come to convey them to Konduga and foodstuffs as well as other materials will be provided immediately by the state government. 

It was gathered that 9 persons were killed and hundreds of people were rendered homeless on Monday when Boko Haram stormed five villages including Shettimari, Kammiri, Kakurami, Kalari Auwlari, Burari and Malari in Konduga local government area of the troubled northeastern state‎

These animals don't deserve any humane treatment at all- kill them all as they do to others QED!!!

cool318:


These animals don't deserve any humane treatment at all- kill them all as they do to others QED!!!

Hmmmn I believe they face the full wrath of the law but you might want to obtain one or two informations from them before you do that ?u

RANDOM PICTURES

1st and 2nd pic are NAF PUMA utility helicopter and HIND;"MIL-35"gunship helicopter


3rd pic is the hatch of a REVA 4x4 MRAP APC


4th are NA soldiers bridging the odds in sambisa forest.

Nigerian Army In Gun Battle With Boko Haram Sect In Yobe


A report reaching me now says Nigerian soldiers are currently engaging suspected members of the outlawed Boko Haram sect in a gun battle in Gadaka, a town in Yobe state.
According to reported by Cable Newspaper, the banned terror group hit Gadaka town over the night in a bid to seize the town but the Nigerian soliders responded in the morning.

“As I speak to you now, there are three fighter jets bombarding the militants,”  cable quoted the source.

Dasuki Releases Images Of Sophisticated Weapons Acquired Under Jonathan | Photos


The immediate past National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), has spoken of how the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan facilitated the acquisition of hitherto elusive weaponry in the last one year and recovered many local governments that had been occupied by Boko Haram terrorists.

Sambo, who has been a subject of media focus since his homes in Abuja and Sokoto were invaded by operatives of the Department of State Security Services (DSS) the same week he left office on the eve of Eid -Fitri 2015, named some of the deciding acquisitions to include Alpha jets, APCs, MRAP vehicles, advanced artillery pieces, assorted arms and ammunitions, highly sophisticated surveillance drones, T72 and carried out modification of F7 supersonic jet fighters.

Dasuki told PRNigeria that “The armored tanks have comprehensive NBC protection system, just as we deployed Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles that we bought and could withstand improvised explosive device (IED) attacks and ambushes. The vehicles had protected our troops from the land mine threats.

“We are glad that we also provided assorted Armoured Personnel Carriers to transport troops to the battlefield. They are armed for self-defence and to provide protection from attacks from shrapnel and small arms fire.
“All these were acquired in the last one year after years of frustration by Western powers who denied us of the equipment and sabotage our efforts to acquire same from other sources which are reasons for some delay in delivery.”

According to him, some other arms already paid for by the previous administration are due to be delivered soon. “It was unfortunate that some elements are frustrating the efforts as we even had to query some suppliers for delay in delivery of arms and ammunitions,” he added.

The former NSA disclosed “we utilised some of these equipment to recover more than 22 local governments under Boko Haram terrorists and ensured that Shekau did not disrupt the 2015 election as he had threatened. Not only did we ensure that the elections were peaceful, Shekau has never spoken to threaten anyone again since then.”



Responding to critics of past administration on security issues, he said: “In attempt to rubbish individuals for whatever reasons, political or otherwise, we should be careful not to rubbish sensitive institutions and their personnel that might still be in active service.

“It is unfortunate that some elements hide under the cover of anonymity in the media to rubbish some of the sacrifices we made. They should the take the courage to come out publicly by identifying themselves with their baseless allegations. ”

More.......

NA RANDOM PICTURES

NA Rangers training in pakistan

NA soldiers matching all the way,maiduguri

NA SF trained in Russia back here in Nigeria

NA infantry Training

New F-16s, Rafales, FREMM frigate take part in opening of New Suez Canal

by defenceWeb/Reuters, August 7

 
New F-16s, Rafales, FREMM frigate take part in opening of New Suez Canal
Egypt's newly delivered F-16s and Rafale fighter jets and its FREMM frigate took part in the opening of the new Suez Canal yesterday in a ceremony attended by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and other heads of state.


French president Francois Hollande was also in attendance where he watched the first three Rafales perform a flypast and the FREMM frigate Tahya Misr sail through the canal, preceding the president's yacht and trailed by other Egyptian navy vessels. Also attending the ceremony was French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Herve Guillou, Chairman and CEO of the vessel's manufacturer DCNS.

In addition to the Rafales and F-16s, a large number of Egyptian Air Force aircraft took part in the opening ceremony, including an E-2 Hawkeye, two electronic intelligence aircraft, three C295s, four Alpha Jets, five F-16s, nine K-8s, four Mirage 2000s, ten Gazelles, three CH-47s, SH-2, A109, Sea King, and Mi-8 among others.

The eight F-16C Block 52 aircraft, part of a batch of 12 still outstanding to Egypt, were flown to Egypt from the United States last month, arriving at Cairo West Air Base on 30 and 31 July. They were preceded by the first three Rafales ordered from Dassault, which flew to Egypt on 21 July.

This first delivery came five months after the Egyptian decision to acquire 24 Rafales (16 two-seaters and 8 single-seaters). The first three Rafales were originally produced for the French Air Force but were diverted to Egypt instead, after some French equipment was removed. The remainder are due to follow at a rate of five aircraft per year.

Meanwhile, Tahya Misr arrived in her home port of Alexandria on 31 July, having left Brest in France on 22 July. The vessel was transferred from manufacturer DCNS to the Egyptian Navy on 23 June as part of an urgent drive to take part in the new Suez Canal ceremony.

Al-Sisi told a ceremony attended by French, Russian, Arab and African leaders on Thursday that Egypt would defeat the terrorism that dogged the project. "Work did not take place in normal circumstances, and these circumstances still exist and we are fighting them and we will defeat them," Sisi said after signing an order allowing ships to cross the New Suez Canal.

"We promised a gift to the world and we accomplished it in record time - an additional artery for prosperity and for connecting civilization to enhance the movement of international trade," he said, as the first vessel, a container ship called CMA CGM TITAN, blew its horn and passed through the canal.

The $8 billion project was completed in just one year instead of three on Sisi's orders, but economists and shipping analysts question whether there is sufficient traffic and east-west trade to meet its ambitious revenue targets.

The canal expansion is the centrepiece of a grand agenda by Sisi to cement his tenure as the man who brought stability and prosperity to Egypt after he ousted elected Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 following mass protests.

The inauguration ceremony was also intended to bolster his international standing in the presence of French President Francois Hollande, Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, King Abdullah of Jordan, the emir of Kuwait and the king of Bahrain.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Cairo on Aug. 2 for a strategic dialogue with Egypt, but no top-level representative of the Obama administration attended the ceremony. Ambassador Robert Beecroft and Darrell Issa, a Republican U.S. Representative from California, attended.

Egypt's allies are keen to burnish its image in a region beset by turmoil. Cairo too faces an increasingly brazen two-year-old insurgency based across the Suez Canal in the Sinai peninsula that has killed hundreds of police and soldiers, Reuters reports.

In an ominous turn, Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate released a video on Wednesday threatening to kill a Croatian hostage within 48 hours if Muslim women prisoners were not freed. Last month, the group managed to fire a rocket at an Egyptian navy vessel in the Mediterranean, near the coast of Israel and the Gaza Strip.

But Egyptian authorities say the safety of ships through the strategic canal has never been under threat.

Earlier Sisi, in full military regalia, sailed up the canal, flanked by a young boy in military fatigues waving the Egyptian flag, aboard the yacht El-Mahrousa, the first ship to pass through the Suez Canal when it was opened in November 1869.

Thursday was declared a public holiday. Cairo and other cities were decked out in bunting, with fairy lights hung from the Nile river bridges and banners proclaiming "From the mother of the world (Egypt) to the whole world".

Tents for the festivities in Ismailia were erected on the east bank of the canal. A giant statue of a toiling canal worker with shovel in hand looked over the waterway. A towering statue of the ancient Egyptian Pharaonic goddess Isis with wings splayed looked out over the new channel, with the flags of the world flying behind it. Nationalist songs by military brass blared.

The yacht was an ambivalent symbol, since King Farouk, the last monarch to rule Egypt, sailed into exile in Italy aboard it after being ousted by the military in 1952.

Egypt had been reeling from years of turmoil since the Arab Spring uprising that deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011, and many of the country's nearly 90 million population have suffered from a slower economy, a fall in tourism and high inflation.

The government believes the New Suez Canal and an industrial zone to be developed around it will seal Egypt's deliverance from economic purgatory - to the scepticism of some.

The project involved extending a waterway parallel to part of the 19th century canal connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, as well as deepening and widening the old channel - the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

In Cairo's Tahrir Square a crowd of about 300 gathered in the square honking horns with the colour of the Egyptian flag.

"This isn't just for me, it's for my children and grandchildren. This is for the whole world," said 50-year-old Gamal Amin.

But not everyone was enthralled. "There isn't anything new to be celebrating. There are more important things for Egyptian people that this money could have been used for," said Mahmoud, 24, walking past Tahrir.

WISHFUL THINKING

For many Egyptians, as well as economists and experts, the immediate benefits of the expansion, funded largely by a public subscription in Egypt, are not obvious.

The Suez Canal Authority expects a windfall of additional revenue -- $13.23 billion in annual revenue by 2023 from just over $5 billion in 2014, with the number of daily vessels rising from 49 to 97 over the same period.

But sluggish world trade, competition from an expanded Panama Canal and a slower Chinese economy make it unlikely the project can achieve its revenue targets anytime soon or bring about a significant fall in unemployment from about 13 percent.

Some economists have branded the projections 'wishful thinking' especially since Suez Canal revenue growth has failed to keep pace with growth in world trade since 2011.

But British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon praised the project as a "modern wonder". Britain, Egypt's former colonial power, France and Israel launched an ill-fated attack on Egypt after Nasser nationalised the canal in 1956, but were forced to withdraw largely due to U.S. and Soviet pressure.

These is good news ; http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33828244?ocid=socialflow_facebook

Nigeria Army gazelle helicopter

RANDOM PICTURES OF NAF AND NA

RANDOM PICTURES

2nd pic is an un-exploded ordinance

3rd pic are soldiers with a grenade inside a trench.

4th pic is a NA paratrooper

OPERATIONAL PICTURES

1st pic is a NA FH-77B05-L52 towed howitzer

2nd pic is a NA haubits FH-77A towed howitzer

3rd and 4th pic are bridges blowed up by BH.

betty202020:
and who assembled the ACC? both actors will still exaggerate the ACC. its God knows the truth.

Whats ACC?

Nigeria: Air Force to deploy more aircraft, helicopters against Boko Haram.

Nigeria’s Air Force is sets to deploy more aircraft, helicopters against Boko Haram according to the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.

Speaking at the weekend during his maiden tour of Air Force command and units in in Lagos State, Abubakar stated that one air craft will be deployed from Lagos to Yola and several helicopters will also be moved from Port Harcourt to the North Eastern state.

He said a number of aircrafts were patrolling the Nigeria-Cameroon border frequently and that the Air Force on several occasions intercepted and engaged people who smuggle petroleum products to the insurgents.

"We have our airplanes that are patrolling the Nigeria-Cameroon border at all times and we have intercepted quite a number of people that are smuggling petroleum products to support the insurgents and we have engaged them on a number of occasions," he said.

He stated that plans were underway to acquire new equipments as well as rehabilitate those that are moribund.

"We are already working on acquiring new platforms. There are a number of platforms we want to acquire which we are forwarding to the Federal Government” he said.

"But at the moment, we are working with the ones we have on ground and trying to reactivate some.

"We are not ill-equipped rather we do not have all that we need to have and we are working to improve on the serviceability of the platforms we have.

"We have been achieving and working closely with the Nigerian Army using the platforms that we have. They might not be adequate, but we are making the best out of what we have on ground and it is producing results."

Expressing satisfaction at the innovative skills of his personnel as well as the gains recorded in the war against Boko Haram, Abubakar said the tour was necessary because it would identify the strategies that needed improvement as well as those that should be discarded.

"Our thinking is to look at all the things we can do with a view to identifying the things we need to improve on.

"Also, with a view to identifying those strategies that we need to discard that are not working for us especially with regards on how we are operating in the North East.

"With what I have seen, I am very happy with the situation on ground. We have identified areas that we  need to improve upon and we will go ahead to start doing something about it," he said.

Maintaining that the military was winning the war against the terrorists, Abubakar said the force was currently re-strategising.

"I don't want to say we are not winning this war. I think we are. What we are simply doing now is to re-strategise,” he said.

"We are going through all the activities that has happened in the past and the idea is to re-evaluate and see the ones we need to improve upon.

"That is why I am going on the tour. We started with about 16 operational units that are directly involved in the war in the North East but we also recognised that without logistics you cannot fight war.

"We need the logistics support to carry out our operations. So, what I have seen on ground is highly committed personnel that is working to ensure that whatever logistics support we need to execute the war in the North East is given to us.

"We need to have a highly professional service that is prudent in management of resources. A service that is highly disciplined with innovative ideas.

"We are working on welfare programs from accommodation, medical services for our personnel and the children of our personnel too.

"My next move is to reposition the Air Force so that we can have a highly professional service that respects the rights of everyone and can deliver in their constitutional duties.


Below is the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal SB Abubakar inspecting Alfa Jet Aircraft during his Operational Visit to 99 ACTG kanji.

bidexiii:
Nigeria: Air Force to deploy more aircraft, helicopters against Boko Haram.

Nigeria’s Air Force is sets to deploy more aircraft, helicopters against Boko Haram according to the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.

Speaking at the weekend during his maiden tour of Air Force command and units in in Lagos State, Abubakar stated that one air craft will be deployed from Lagos to Yola and several helicopters will also be moved from Port Harcourt to the North Eastern state.

He said a number of aircrafts were patrolling the Nigeria-Cameroon border frequently and that the Air Force on several occasions intercepted and engaged people who smuggle petroleum products to the insurgents.

"We have our airplanes that are patrolling the Nigeria-Cameroon border at all times and we have intercepted quite a number of people that are smuggling petroleum products to support the insurgents and we have engaged them on a number of occasions," he said.

He stated that plans were underway to acquire new equipments as well as rehabilitate those that are moribund.

"We are already working on acquiring new platforms. There are a number of platforms we want to acquire which we are forwarding to the Federal Government” he said.

"But at the moment, we are working with the ones we have on ground and trying to reactivate some.

"We are not ill-equipped rather we do not have all that we need to have and we are working to improve on the serviceability of the platforms we have.

"We have been achieving and working closely with the Nigerian Army using the platforms that we have. They might not be adequate, but we are making the best out of what we have on ground and it is producing results."

Expressing satisfaction at the innovative skills of his personnel as well as the gains recorded in the war against Boko Haram, Abubakar said the tour was necessary because it would identify the strategies that needed improvement as well as those that should be discarded.

"Our thinking is to look at all the things we can do with a view to identifying the things we need to improve on.

"Also, with a view to identifying those strategies that we need to discard that are not working for us especially with regards on how we are operating in the North East.

"With what I have seen, I am very happy with the situation on ground. We have identified areas that we  need to improve upon and we will go ahead to start doing something about it," he said.

Maintaining that the military was winning the war against the terrorists, Abubakar said the force was currently re-strategising.

"I don't want to say we are not winning this war. I think we are. What we are simply doing now is to re-strategise,” he said.

"We are going through all the activities that has happened in the past and the idea is to re-evaluate and see the ones we need to improve upon.

"That is why I am going on the tour. We started with about 16 operational units that are directly involved in the war in the North East but we also recognised that without logistics you cannot fight war.

"We need the logistics support to carry out our operations. So, what I have seen on ground is highly committed personnel that is working to ensure that whatever logistics support we need to execute the war in the North East is given to us.

"We need to have a highly professional service that is prudent in management of resources. A service that is highly disciplined with innovative ideas.

"We are working on welfare programs from accommodation, medical services for our personnel and the children of our personnel too.

"My next move is to reposition the Air Force so that we can have a highly professional service that respects the rights of everyone and can deliver in their constitutional duties.


Below is the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal SB Abubakar inspecting Alfa Jet Aircraft during his Operational Visit to 99 ACTG kanji.

I remember kainji has those jets then every morning will be making a lot of sound as perform maneuvers

NA SOLDIERS

RANDOM PICTURES

1; NAF ENGINEERS AND TECHNICIANS

2; NAF DORNIER LIGHT TRANSPORT PLANE.

CHINA’S FIRST DRONE WAR IS HERE

The United States is still by far the world’s leader in the field of military drones, with hundreds of high-tech, missile- and bomb-armed robot aircraft and thousands of smaller, unarmed models deployed across the planet.

But China is catching up fast. And now we can confirm that Beijing’s remote-controlled warplanes have had their combat debut—in a seemingly unlikely place. A social media post seems to verify what observers have suspected since January: China’s killer robots are at war in Nigeria, apparently helping Abuja’s military battle the deadly Boko Haram extremist group, which controls much of northeastern Nigeria and has kidnapped and enslaved hundreds of girls.

The first evidence that the Nigerian air force had gotten its hands on Chinese-made unmanned aerial vehicles came on Jan. 27 this year, when Twitter users in Nigeria’s Borno state, in the war-torn northeast, posted photos of what appeared to be a crashed drone.

And not just any drone. The wreckage matched the profile of a CH-3—boomerang-shaped, roughly 25 feet from wingtip to wingtip and powered by a rear-mounted “pusher” propeller. Capable of flying an estimated 12 hours at a time at a cruising speed of around 150 miles per hour, the camera-equipped CH-3 is a “a capable system. Not cutting edge, but capable,” according to Peter W. Singer, a drone expert at the New America Foundation and the author of several books, including the newly-released Ghost Fleet.

Most surprisingly, the crashed drone in Borno was packing a pair of what looked like AR-1 air-to-ground missiles under its wings. The January Tweets were the first indication ever that armed Chinese drones had flown in combat. America’s own unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have been flying strike missions since late 2001.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which makes the CH-3, did not respond to an email seeking confirmation of the CH-3 sighting. Nor did the Nigerian air force. On July 24, Nigerian news outlet Naija247news posted a story online featuring several photos of Air Vice Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, a top air force official, visiting a military airfield in Yola in northeast Nigeria.

One of the photos depicts Abubakar inspecting—you guessed it—a CH-3 drone.

To be sure, Chinese officials have been saying for years that they would happily sell UAVs to, well, pretty much anyone—meeting a demand for robotic warplanes that the United States refuses to satisfy. Export laws bar American companies such as General Atomics, which manufactures the iconic Predator and Reaper, from selling to many countries.

“The United States has a responsibility to ensure that sales, transfers and subsequent use of all U.S.-origin [drones] are responsible and consistent with U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, including economic security, as well as with U.S. values and international standards,” the State Department explained in a February press release.
LOOK OUT BELOW
CHINA’S FIRST DRONE WAR IS HERE
BY DAVID AXE 08.11.151:00 AM ET
Shop ▾
The United States is still by far the world’s leader in the field of military drones, with hundreds of high-tech, missile- and bomb-armed robot aircraft and thousands of smaller, unarmed models deployed across the planet.

But China is catching up fast. And now we can confirm that Beijing’s remote-controlled warplanes have had their combat debut—in a seemingly unlikely place. A social media post seems to verify what observers have suspected since January: China’s killer robots are at war in Nigeria, apparently helping Abuja’s military battle the deadly Boko Haram extremist group, which controls much of northeastern Nigeria and has kidnapped and enslaved hundreds of girls.

The first evidence that the Nigerian air force had gotten its hands on Chinese-made unmanned aerial vehicles came on Jan. 27 this year, when Twitter users in Nigeria’s Borno state, in the war-torn northeast, posted photos of what appeared to be a crashed drone.

And not just any drone. The wreckage matched the profile of a CH-3—boomerang-shaped, roughly 25 feet from wingtip to wingtip and powered by a rear-mounted “pusher” propeller. Capable of flying an estimated 12 hours at a time at a cruising speed of around 150 miles per hour, the camera-equipped CH-3 is a “a capable system. Not cutting edge, but capable,” according to Peter W. Singer, a drone expert at the New America Foundation and the author of several books, including the newly-released Ghost Fleet.

Most surprisingly, the crashed drone in Borno was packing a pair of what looked like AR-1 air-to-ground missiles under its wings. The January Tweets were the first indication ever that armed Chinese drones had flown in combat. America’s own unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have been flying strike missions since late 2001.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which makes the CH-3, did not respond to an email seeking confirmation of the CH-3 sighting. Nor did the Nigerian air force. On July 24, Nigerian news outlet Naija247news posted a story online featuring several photos of Air Vice Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, a top air force official, visiting a military airfield in Yola in northeast Nigeria.

One of the photos depicts Abubakar inspecting—you guessed it—a CH-3 drone.

To be sure, Chinese officials have been saying for years that they would happily sell UAVs to, well, pretty much anyone—meeting a demand for robotic warplanes that the United States refuses to satisfy. Export laws bar American companies such as General Atomics, which manufactures the iconic Predator and Reaper, from selling to many countries.

“The United States has a responsibility to ensure that sales, transfers and subsequent use of all U.S.-origin [drones] are responsible and consistent with U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, including economic security, as well as with U.S. values and international standards,” the State Department explained in a February press release.

Chinese officials have been saying for years that they would happily sell drones to pretty much anyone—meeting a demand for robotic warplanes that the United States refuses to satisfy.
"Recipients are to use these systems in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” the State Depatment added.

That would disqualify Nigeria, whose military and police can be as brutal as the insurgents they fight. “In its response to Boko Haram, and at times to crime in general, security services perpetrated extrajudicial killings and engaged in torture, rape, arbitrary detention, mistreatment of detainees, and destruction of property,” the State Department claimed in a 2014 human rights report.

Washington has been keen to help Abuja battle Boko Haram, but has been reluctant to arm Nigerian troops. Last year, Goodluck Jonathan—then Nigeria’s president—proposed to buy U.S.-made Cobra gunship helicopters, with Israel acting as the middleman. But the United States nixed the deal.

Instead, in May 2014 the U.S. Air Force deployed a Reaper drone squadron to Chad, on Nigeria’s eastern border, and flew the Reapers—without its weapons—over Nigeria to help locate Boko Haram fighters.

In April, Michael Lumpkin—the senior Pentagon official for special operations—told a Senate subcommittee that the drone ops in Nigeria were “exerting significant pressure” on Boko Haram. (PDF)

Capt. Tamar Fischer Carter, a U.S. Africa Command spokesperson, confirmed that the drones are still flying over Nigeria and feeding intel to officials in Abuja via the U.S. embassy. “Our intent is to build partner capacity in this region so they are more capable of managing the threat posed by Boko Haram,” She told The Daily Beast.

The Reapers weren’t alone. Nigeria has possessed at least two CH-3s—the one that crashed and the second example in the hangar at Yola—plus missiles to arm them and the ground stations to steer the robots via satellite. It’s unclear whether Nigerian operators or Chinese contractors actually controled the drones.

In any event, with unarmed American robots and armed Chinese models flying top cover, Nigerian troops and warplanes have stepped up their attacks on Boko Haram. In July, air force attack planes bombed Boko Haram positions in Dikwa, a village in Borno state. The air raids “paved the way for the Nigerian army to move in and recapture the town with less resistance,” Naija247news reported.

The air force also destroyed a smuggling outpost on the Nigeria-Cameroon border allegedly supplying fuel to Boko Haram. The Nigerian air arm “was able to achieve the recent feat through its air patrol activities, covering both land and water,” a military spokesperson told a Nigerian news outlet.

In perhaps the most encouraging sign that Nigeria and its drone helpers are making progress against the militants, on Aug. 2 Abuja’s army claimed it had freed 178 hostages, including 101 children, from Boko Haram camps.

Some U.S. officials worry that Chinese drones could beat out American models on the world market and give authoritarian regimes and U.S. rivals access to the same high-tech capabilities that Washington would prefer to belong only to America’s closest allies.

“China is advancing its development and employment of UAVs,” the Pentagon concluded in the latest edition of its official report on Chinese military capabilities. “Some estimates indicate China plans to produce upwards of 41,800 land- and sea-based unmanned systems, worth about $10.5 billion, between 2014 and 2023.” (PDF)
The RAND Corporation, a California think tank with close ties to the U.S. Air Force, warned in that the spread of Chinese drones “could have worrisome implications for United States.” (PDF)
But in Nigeria, Chinese missile-drones are apparently helping the government beat a militant slavery ring that the United States also wants to defeat. And while the Nigeria war zone gave Beijing’s UAVs their first shot at combat, there are sure to be many more opportunities for robotic warfare in coming years. “China is becoming one of world’s bigger producers and exporters of drones,” Singer said, “so we shouldn’t be surprised to see its systems popping up in more and more war zones around the world.”

bidexiii:
CHINA’S FIRST DRONE WAR IS HERE

The United States is still by far the world’s leader in the field of military drones, with hundreds of high-tech, missile- and bomb-armed robot aircraft and thousands of smaller, unarmed models deployed across the planet.

But China is catching up fast. And now we can confirm that Beijing’s remote-controlled warplanes have had their combat debut—in a seemingly unlikely place. A social media post seems to verify what observers have suspected since January: China’s killer robots are at war in Nigeria, apparently helping Abuja’s military battle the deadly Boko Haram extremist group, which controls much of northeastern Nigeria and has kidnapped and enslaved hundreds of girls.

The first evidence that the Nigerian air force had gotten its hands on Chinese-made unmanned aerial vehicles came on Jan. 27 this year, when Twitter users in Nigeria’s Borno state, in the war-torn northeast, posted photos of what appeared to be a crashed drone.

And not just any drone. The wreckage matched the profile of a CH-3—boomerang-shaped, roughly 25 feet from wingtip to wingtip and powered by a rear-mounted “pusher” propeller. Capable of flying an estimated 12 hours at a time at a cruising speed of around 150 miles per hour, the camera-equipped CH-3 is a “a capable system. Not cutting edge, but capable,” according to Peter W. Singer, a drone expert at the New America Foundation and the author of several books, including the newly-released Ghost Fleet.

Most surprisingly, the crashed drone in Borno was packing a pair of what looked like AR-1 air-to-ground missiles under its wings. The January Tweets were the first indication ever that armed Chinese drones had flown in combat. America’s own unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have been flying strike missions since late 2001.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which makes the CH-3, did not respond to an email seeking confirmation of the CH-3 sighting. Nor did the Nigerian air force. On July 24, Nigerian news outlet Naija247news posted a story online featuring several photos of Air Vice Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, a top air force official, visiting a military airfield in Yola in northeast Nigeria.

One of the photos depicts Abubakar inspecting—you guessed it—a CH-3 drone.

To be sure, Chinese officials have been saying for years that they would happily sell UAVs to, well, pretty much anyone—meeting a demand for robotic warplanes that the United States refuses to satisfy. Export laws bar American companies such as General Atomics, which manufactures the iconic Predator and Reaper, from selling to many countries.

“The United States has a responsibility to ensure that sales, transfers and subsequent use of all U.S.-origin [drones] are responsible and consistent with U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, including economic security, as well as with U.S. values and international standards,” the State Department explained in a February press release.
LOOK OUT BELOW
CHINA’S FIRST DRONE WAR IS HERE
BY DAVID AXE 08.11.151:00 AM ET
Shop ▾
The United States is still by far the world’s leader in the field of military drones, with hundreds of high-tech, missile- and bomb-armed robot aircraft and thousands of smaller, unarmed models deployed across the planet.

But China is catching up fast. And now we can confirm that Beijing’s remote-controlled warplanes have had their combat debut—in a seemingly unlikely place. A social media post seems to verify what observers have suspected since January: China’s killer robots are at war in Nigeria, apparently helping Abuja’s military battle the deadly Boko Haram extremist group, which controls much of northeastern Nigeria and has kidnapped and enslaved hundreds of girls.

The first evidence that the Nigerian air force had gotten its hands on Chinese-made unmanned aerial vehicles came on Jan. 27 this year, when Twitter users in Nigeria’s Borno state, in the war-torn northeast, posted photos of what appeared to be a crashed drone.

And not just any drone. The wreckage matched the profile of a CH-3—boomerang-shaped, roughly 25 feet from wingtip to wingtip and powered by a rear-mounted “pusher” propeller. Capable of flying an estimated 12 hours at a time at a cruising speed of around 150 miles per hour, the camera-equipped CH-3 is a “a capable system. Not cutting edge, but capable,” according to Peter W. Singer, a drone expert at the New America Foundation and the author of several books, including the newly-released Ghost Fleet.

Most surprisingly, the crashed drone in Borno was packing a pair of what looked like AR-1 air-to-ground missiles under its wings. The January Tweets were the first indication ever that armed Chinese drones had flown in combat. America’s own unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have been flying strike missions since late 2001.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which makes the CH-3, did not respond to an email seeking confirmation of the CH-3 sighting. Nor did the Nigerian air force. On July 24, Nigerian news outlet Naija247news posted a story online featuring several photos of Air Vice Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, a top air force official, visiting a military airfield in Yola in northeast Nigeria.

One of the photos depicts Abubakar inspecting—you guessed it—a CH-3 drone.

To be sure, Chinese officials have been saying for years that they would happily sell UAVs to, well, pretty much anyone—meeting a demand for robotic warplanes that the United States refuses to satisfy. Export laws bar American companies such as General Atomics, which manufactures the iconic Predator and Reaper, from selling to many countries.

“The United States has a responsibility to ensure that sales, transfers and subsequent use of all U.S.-origin [drones] are responsible and consistent with U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, including economic security, as well as with U.S. values and international standards,” the State Department explained in a February press release.

Chinese officials have been saying for years that they would happily sell drones to pretty much anyone—meeting a demand for robotic warplanes that the United States refuses to satisfy.
"Recipients are to use these systems in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” the State Depatment added.

That would disqualify Nigeria, whose military and police can be as brutal as the insurgents they fight. “In its response to Boko Haram, and at times to crime in general, security services perpetrated extrajudicial killings and engaged in torture, rape, arbitrary detention, mistreatment of detainees, and destruction of property,” the State Department claimed in a 2014 human rights report.

Washington has been keen to help Abuja battle Boko Haram, but has been reluctant to arm Nigerian troops. Last year, Goodluck Jonathan—then Nigeria’s president—proposed to buy U.S.-made Cobra gunship helicopters, with Israel acting as the middleman. But the United States nixed the deal.

Instead, in May 2014 the U.S. Air Force deployed a Reaper drone squadron to Chad, on Nigeria’s eastern border, and flew the Reapers—without its weapons—over Nigeria to help locate Boko Haram fighters.

In April, Michael Lumpkin—the senior Pentagon official for special operations—told a Senate subcommittee that the drone ops in Nigeria were “exerting significant pressure” on Boko Haram. (PDF)

Capt. Tamar Fischer Carter, a U.S. Africa Command spokesperson, confirmed that the drones are still flying over Nigeria and feeding intel to officials in Abuja via the U.S. embassy. “Our intent is to build partner capacity in this region so they are more capable of managing the threat posed by Boko Haram,” She told The Daily Beast.

The Reapers weren’t alone. Nigeria has possessed at least two CH-3s—the one that crashed and the second example in the hangar at Yola—plus missiles to arm them and the ground stations to steer the robots via satellite. It’s unclear whether Nigerian operators or Chinese contractors actually controled the drones.

In any event, with unarmed American robots and armed Chinese models flying top cover, Nigerian troops and warplanes have stepped up their attacks on Boko Haram. In July, air force attack planes bombed Boko Haram positions in Dikwa, a village in Borno state. The air raids “paved the way for the Nigerian army to move in and recapture the town with less resistance,” Naija247news reported.

The air force also destroyed a smuggling outpost on the Nigeria-Cameroon border allegedly supplying fuel to Boko Haram. The Nigerian air arm “was able to achieve the recent feat through its air patrol activities, covering both land and water,” a military spokesperson told a Nigerian news outlet.

In perhaps the most encouraging sign that Nigeria and its drone helpers are making progress against the militants, on Aug. 2 Abuja’s army claimed it had freed 178 hostages, including 101 children, from Boko Haram camps.

Some U.S. officials worry that Chinese drones could beat out American models on the world market and give authoritarian regimes and U.S. rivals access to the same high-tech capabilities that Washington would prefer to belong only to America’s closest allies.

“China is advancing its development and employment of UAVs,” the Pentagon concluded in the latest edition of its official report on Chinese military capabilities. “Some estimates indicate China plans to produce upwards of 41,800 land- and sea-based unmanned systems, worth about $10.5 billion, between 2014 and 2023.” (PDF)
The RAND Corporation, a California think tank with close ties to the U.S. Air Force, warned in that the spread of Chinese drones “could have worrisome implications for United States.” (PDF)
But in Nigeria, Chinese missile-drones are apparently helping the government beat a militant slavery ring that the United States also wants to defeat. And while the Nigeria war zone gave Beijing’s UAVs their first shot at combat, there are sure to be many more opportunities for robotic warfare in coming years. “China is becoming one of world’s bigger producers and exporters of drones,” Singer said, “so we shouldn’t be surprised to see its systems popping up in more and more war zones around the world.”

The military could just reverse engineer the tech to make our gulma bigger and armed.

This is why I advocate we invest in missile technology. We could even arm our LUH with homegrown missiles.

Heck, we can just do it the south African way and mount missiles on everything movable.

I just hope buhari is really serious about developing a local defence industrial complex. We were long overdue for such development a long time ago.

Good work you are doing bro. Keep it up

stillchris:


The military could just reverse engineer the tech to make our gulma bigger and armed.

This is why I advocate we invest in missile technology. We could even arm our LUH with homegrown missiles.

Heck, we can just do it the south African way and mount missiles on everything movable.

I just hope buhari is really serious about developing a local defence industrial complex. We were long overdue for such development a long time ago.

Good work you are doing bro. Keep it up

Am 100% in support of these; not only our LUH ,i wonder why NA would buy gazelle helicopters that does not av even armed with rocket pods/missiles and FLIR POD.

China is ready to support us in developing our missiles and China programmes will be cheaper even countries like Egypt now are turning to China now for such help and Egypt buy most of there military hard ware from the west and European countries!