NASS TEAM IN USA TO ASSESS PROGRESS OF WORK ON NAF A-29 SUPER TUCANO AIRCRAFT
As part of their oversight functions, the National Assembly (NASS) Joint Committee on Defence and Air Force are currently in the United States of America (USA) on inspection tour of Embraer Defence Security Incorporated (EDSI), manufacturers of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) A-29 Super Tucano aircraft. Specifically, members of the joint committee are in the USA to assess the status and progress of work on the NAF A-29 Super Tucano aircraft. On arrival at EDSI yesterday, 27 May 2021, the NASS team led by Senator Michael Nnachi, was briefed on the progress of work on the NAF A-29 Super Tucano programme and the scheduled date of delivery.
While briefing the NASS team, Colonel Authur Ford of the United States Air Force Fighters and Advance Aircraft Directorate stated that 10 out of the 12 aircraft were ready for delivery while 2 were undergoing modification and integration to NAF specific operational configuration. He went on to state that 6 of the aircraft are scheduled to arrive in Nigeria in July 2021 while the remaining 6 will be delivered before the end of October 2021. The NASS team was assured that the aircraft, expected to play critical roles in the fight against insurgency and criminality, would be delivered as planned.
Responding, Senator Michael Nnachi commended EDSI for the quality of work on the NAF A-29 Super Tucano. He however queried the long duration of time from the date of full payment to expected date of delivery, which he estimated to be between 3 to 4 years. In response, the Col Ford informed the team that the long duration was due to the challenges of configuring the aircraft to fit NAF’s required specifications.
The visiting team which also included Honourables Babajimi Benson, Shehu Koko, Abubakar Maki and Honourable Abass Adigun were received on arrival at Jacksonville, Florida by the Nigerian Defence Attaché to the USA, Air Commodore Jibrin Usman, the Lead Foreign Liaison Officer on the A-29, Air Vice Marshal Sule Lawal and senior management staff EDSI.
EDWARD GABKWET Air Commodore Director of Public Relations and Information Nigerian Air Force 27 May 2021
naptu2: I usually begin by telling the story, but I'm going to do it differently this time because I've seen some very funny posts.
Let's deal with some of the ignorance here. Some people are saying that the A29 Super Tucano is not used for warfare or that it's just a reconnaissance plane, while some very funny people are saying that we should buy F14, F15 or F16 planes (to fight against Boko Haram? ), So let's answer the question, what is the Super Tucano used for.
The Super Tucano has the prefix A. What are A planes used for? Some people want us to buy F planes. What are F planes used for?
These are the meanings of the prefixes on US military planes.
The A simply means (Ground) Attack aircraft. They are used to provide close air support to soldiers on the ground and to attack enemy soldiers on the ground. These planes are particularly useful in guerrilla warfare and counter-insurgency operations, like the kind of warfare that the Nigerian military is fighting in the North-East.
The F planes are fighters and interceptors. They are primarily used to fight against other military aircraft. Pray tell, what war planes do Boko Haram have that you want to buy F planes to fight against Boko Haram?
The Nigerian Army has often complained that they need close air support and that it often takes the Nigerian Air Force too long to respond with close air support when they require it. The A29 Super Tucano is meant to solve this problem.
Furthermore, the Nigerian Air Force has complained that the Chengdu F7 (an F plane) is too fast and that it's not good for counter-insurgency operations, yet you want to buy another F plane to fight Boko Haram?
The 2009 Light Attack/Armed Reconnaissance program was born out of the need for a new close air support aircraft that was suited to the type of combat the United States was facing in post 2003-invasion Iraq and Afghanistan. The close air support role was carried out by several different aircraft, including the A-10 Thunderbolt II, the B-1B Lancer, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the F-15E Strike Eagle. While all of these aircraft are capable of close air support, only the A-10 was purpose built for the type of support needed by ground troops in a "low intensity conflict," or COIN (COunterINsurgency), operation.[5]
For example, these aircraft often do not have the loiter time needed for these missions and require aerial refueling support, making their missions more expensive. Additionally, long loiter missions use up an airframe's service life faster than expected, requiring replacement. This may cause issues in the future as some aircraft, such as the A-10, are out of production and cannot be replaced.[5]
To solve this problem, the United States Air Force released a Request for Information (RFI) on July 27, 2009 requesting details of a possible Light Attack/Armed Reconnaissance aircraft that could be outfitted to specific requirements (see Requirements below) and enter into service in 2013.[2]
The Air Force planned to acquire approximately 100 aircraft in the RFI, but has since reduced the initial requirement to 15 aircraft. A more detailed Request for Proposals (RFP) has not been released as of September 2010.[2][3]
In 2011 the House Armed Services Committee moved to block funding for the program until the requirements and acquisition were validated.[12]
In November 2011 it was revealed that the Beechcraft AT-6B had been excluded from the competition by the USAF, leaving the Embraer A-29 the probable winner, with a contract expected to be awarded in December 2011.[13] According to GAO: “the Air Force concluded that HBDC [Hawker Beechcraft Defense Company] had not adequately corrected deficiencies in its proposal. In this regard, the agency concluded that multiple deficiencies and significant weaknesses found in HBDC’s proposal make it technically unacceptable and results in unacceptable mission capability risk”. Hawker Beechcraft's protest against its exclusion was dismissed.[14]
On December 30, 2011, the USAF announced that the A-29 had been awarded the contract.[15] But the contract award was disputed and a stop-work was issued the following January.[16] All motions will be due to U.S. Court of Federal Claim by March 6, 2012.[17]
A reawarding of the contract was expected in January 2013,[18] but was delayed a few months.[19] The A-29 was reawarded the contract on February 27, 2013.[20][21] And Beechcraft again challenged the contract.[22] But the USAF ordered that the construction start anyway.[23] Beechcraft's allies in the Kansas Republican congressional delegation then called for the work to be stopped,[24] while Embraer's Floridan congressional allies praised the USAF's move.[25] The USAF has instructed for work to continue unless a federal court orders otherwise.[26] The United States Court of Federal Claims upheld the USAF's decision to proceed with the contract work.[27]
naptu2: 2014 was not long ago, neither was 2018, so why are people confused about who bought the Super Tucano?
In fact, I made a post about the about turn that many people made on this site in 2018.
This is so easy that I can write this entire post from memory.
The Nigerian Air Force had a problem while trying to battle the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East. They had no fixed wing COIN aircraft. They also needed more of the rotary wing aircraft that they had (HINDS).
Basically, the planes that we had at the time were the Chengdu F7 and the Dassault Alpha jets. The Chengdu F7 was way too fast for Counter-Insurgency Operations (COIN) and although the Alpha was better, it was also too fast. They needed something with more loiter time to be able to effectively attack targets on the ground.
Therefore, the Goodluck Jonathan administration decided to buy Embraer Super Tucano aircraft. These are propeller planes, so they can fly slowly and spend more time over the battlefield to enable them properly attack Boko Haram fighters. However, there was a problem.
Embraer is a Brazilian company, but there was also a lot of American interest in the deal. Some of the parts that were used in the aircraft were made in America and, even more importantly, Embraer was chasing a contract from the US Government. The US Government was also conducting tests to determine the most suitable COIN aircraft for its military and several aircraft from several manufacturers were competing for the contract (I wrote a list of all the aircraft on this thread in 2014 or 2015).
Now here's the problem. The US Congress had enacted a law that compelled the US Government to block the sale of any American military products or any military products that had American parts in them from being sold to military units around the world that it had designated as units that engage in torture or abuse of human rights. The law mandated the US State Department to compile a list of such units and the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the North-East of Nigeria was listed as a unit that engaged in torture and human rights abuses, therefore the US Government blocked the deal.
I remember that the senator that sponsored the legislation was very vocal in demanding that the Obama administration should block the deal (I think he was a Republican, but I can't remember for sure), while members of the Jonathan administration vociferously condemned the US Government for blocking the deal.
(Some supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan insulted and verbally attacked President Barrack Obama, because they believed that he personally blocked the deal because he did not like Goodluck Jonathan).
Both Goodluck Jonathan and Barrack Obama left office and President Muhammadu Buhari and Donald Trump came to power.
The Nigerian Government made another bid to buy Super Tucano aircraft and this time President Donald Trump facilitated the deal. President Trump came to power with the promise that he would reduce US dependence on imported products and increase demand for US products and this was a good opportunity to demonstrate what he meant. He brokered a deal that meant that the Super Tucanos would be manufactured in the US, rather than Brazil. He was able to convince members of Congress that this would mean more jobs for the American people (including their constituents) and so they accepted the deal.
The Nigerian Government on its part ensured that there were clauses in the contract that would require Embraer to train Nigerian Air Force pilots to fly the plane and provide spare parts for the planes.
The deal was approved in 2017 and signed when President Buhari visited the White House in 2018. Therefore, these planes that are being delivered were not bought by the Goodluck Jonathan Administration.
(Some supporters of the Jonathan Administration condemned the aircraft when the deal was signed in 2018. They claimed that President Buhari bought "World War 2 era planes". This prompted me to ask if that meant that Jonathan was trying to buy World War 2 era planes in 2014.
An opponent of the Goodluck Jonathan Administration had previously called the planes "World War 2 era planes", which prompted me to lecture him about COIN planes, including the Beechcraft Texan [Hey! I'm remembering the names of the planes!], the Super Tucano and even the AC-130).
1) The Tucano was originally made by Embraer of Brazil. However, the US Air Force loaned some Tucanos during their test programme and their officers improved the firepower and avionics of the aircraft. This improved plane is known as the Super Tucano and that's one of the reasons why we needed US permission before the deal could go through (because the improved firepower and avionics are US products).
2) Some people complained about the cost, but that price includes the cost of training Nigerian pilots in the US, providing spare parts for a given number of years and providing equipment at the air base in Kainji (it's not just the cost of the plane).
3) The Nigerian Air Force is also getting JF Thunder fighter jets later this year or early next year. They are being tested in China and Pakistan at the moment. However, I think the Tucanos are more important than the Thunder because they deal with our major problem at the moment.
Nice effort so far by the Buhari's government but let's step up to the F-I6 and other supersonic jets class. Tucanos can easily be shot down by surface to air missiles from BH terrorists
A huge waste of money. Why not send only 2 or 3 guys from the airforce to inspect the planes. Why do lawmakers with zero knowledge about military aircrafts have to travel all the way to the US to inspect one?
Can't they wait for it to be delivered to inspect if what was ordered was actually what was bought? This is a jamboree and a cheap excuse to waste taxpayers money abroad.
Nice effort so far by the Buhari's government but let's step up to the F-I6 and other supersonic jets class. Tucanos can easily be shot down by surface to air missiles from BH terrorists
isn't it ironic that it's same government that sabotages or would sabotage the operations?
DatIgalaDude: Must they (NASS members) go there? Dem just dey look for way to spend money wey Dem dey shout say e no dey.
The aircrafts we have, have they been sincerely utilized to combat BH and bandits?
Person wey no get eye but wan see who dey dance for market square!
We are serious jokers.
joey150: So, rather than the air force sending it's own pilot/technical team of not more than three guys to inspect military plane, Nigerian law makers with zero knowledge about military jets travelled for a 'vacation' in the US.
Moreoffaith: This is stupidity at its peak, how many of them are Technicians, engineers, pilots?
This useless guys just like wasting our resources
Awon eleribu Dede.
The reason the lawmakers went there is that they have been putting a lot of pressure on the Nigerian Air Force to deliver. They say that they've approved money for the Air Force to buy the planes, but they haven't seen any planes. Some of them have even been accusing the Air Force of stealing the money. So the Air Force took them there to see things for themselves.
Racoon: Nice effort so far by the Buhari's government but let's step up to the F-I6 and other supersonic jets class. Tucanos can easily be shot down by surface to air missiles from BH terrorists
The reason the lawmakers went there is that they have been putting a lot of pressure on the Nigerian Air Force to deliver. They say that they've approved money for the Air Force to buy the planes, but they haven't seen any planes. Some of them have even been accusing the Air Force of stealing the money. So the Air Force took them there to see things for themselves.
One of the biggest problem we have in this democracy is the National Assembly. One or two persos amongst the members of the committee can be sent for this assignment, but no, that wouldn't happen so that all the people that went would claim Extaco. Even a telephone conversation with the company handling the manufacturing can yield better result than their physical presence.
The surprising thing is them expressing satisfaction on the quality of work done. What do they know about aircraft engineering?
Just sell my country the B2 bomber and we will never smell any form of terrorist again on Nigerian soils....
