₦airaland Forum

I have been closely following the NA for over 25 years now. In Sierra Leone, our men seemed to have the most problems,with enemy gun trucks.
Nothing has changed since then, except that NA has now adopted its own gun trucks aka technicals.
The rate and power at which it fires, has led to all the most recent setbacks.

We need a solution. This weapon system most be destroyed accurately at distance , or it will wreck havoc on troop formations.

The western armies deal with it using an ATGM. Fire and forget.

God's speed @allexpensive. Not many possess the courage to do what you guys are doing. Year in, year out. Proper equipment or not. We owe you guys a debt of gratitude that cannot be repaid. I hope Nigerians as a whole start to act like they understand this concept. if our army fails, then Nigeria fails as a country.
The UN, the U.K. And the US will NOT be running here to our aid.

I wanted to opine about fighting through an ambush.
(1) First of NA, I beg, no B vehicles should be used where an A vehicle is needed.
I remember last year, when we lost 3 or 4 young lieutenant colonels in one month. They had to show courage and drive in the lead thin skin death traps aka hiluxes, for their men to follow suit and lead convoys that were definitely going to be ambushed.
(2) Any armor at all causes BHTS to work harder at trying to cause casualties. They wouldn't get it cheaply.

Also, armor would allow a soldier to possibly survive the initial attack. And then fight through.

Yeah the mraps are indeed us issue for Cameroon.
Despite our serious need for mraps/apcs, Washington only gifted us 36 broken down vehicles. Egypt,Jordan,Pakistan and Bosnia all seems to have received at least 700 vehicles each.
Nigerian army should get on trumps good side, and these goodies will start pouring in. It is easy to do, just say nice things about the man, ask/beg nicely, when other African nations ridicule trump for sport, we shouldn't get involved.

This is not obama that was using us to burnish his amnesty international bonifides.

Let's be proactive and ask for these equipment , in return be ready to kiss up to trump on some issues. But we need america's equipment to reduce our horrendous casualty rate in this war.
Since we wouldn't go to china take a few billion usd loan and buy whatever we need from them.
Jordan a perennial receipient of western larghese has plenty of apcs of South African, U.K. And US origin we could use.

All expensive, you are a soldier on the battlefield, so your experience carries more weight than all our opinions combined. So, saying 72msf mattered alongside other front line units is one thing. Saying they didn't matter at all is another.

I have listened closely to Eebens accounts of those battles, he was never trying to usurp the glory of other Nigerian fighting units. Now the western media really wanted to give anybody but Nigerians the credit for those victories in gworza , bama, Michika, konduga and the rest of the short lived caliphate.

They said the Chadians did it, then they said it was the white mercy.

But it is important that Nigerian fighting men know that while the white media was trying to usurp their glory earned in blood, Eeben was never interested in that.
Dude has plenty war stories of his own.

I knew a day would come when some Nigerians may resent his fame, thinking it was gotten at their expense. Well that wasn't the case here.
You cannot blame the man for the western press penchance to show Nigerians as incompetent.
Especially if we as Nigerians or our leadership keeps writing the script of incompetence.

Anywho, I hope you consider our need for PMC services on it's own merit, and not colored by some anti western agenda.

In 2011 when the insurgency was still new, I opined that this war was a race against time between a then novice NA and a then novice BHTS.
Which side will learn its best practices the quickest.?
Will our troops become like the Americans quicker than bhts becomes like ISIS ?

So it's the albarnawi group versus our AFSF.

Stenprophet is not even addressing any of my points. He just dislikes Eeben, so there goes any possible merit my pov contains.
U say bhts just had a lucky week? Please remind me when NA last had there own lucky weeks.

You talk about intractable problems spreading country wide. That is my point exactly this is too important to be left to our armed forces to do their best with what they have.

Just as in public private partnership approach to reviving air Nigeria, or running other institutions, hiring a good PMC with a proven track record is good business.

Actually, the safest state in the nation today anambra state has a PMC to thank for the structure governor obiano set up with all the security agencies in collaboration with a well organized civilian vigilante group. With the groups organized around the authority of the village chiefs.

An Israeli security expert is the adviser behind the anambra operation kpochapu.

The governor, an investment banker knowing the importance of security to the economy and everything else, wisely consulted a professional who designed the best way for the governor to use what he had.

Kaduna states seems to copy almost all obiano' moves, with the exception of security. And now security issues is threatening all he has built in kaduna.
Many other states have left the security of their people to Abuja. Inspite of the security votes they have to do something creative or hire a professional adviser as is done the world over.

A combination of PMC designed solutions and community policing, is the answer to the herdsmen, cattle rustlers, kidnappers and nigerias hydra headed security challenges

Oga Henry, too bad you cannot rewrite history. To answer your questions
(1) Eeben was just a subcontractor to a major contract that was initially meant to train commandos to find and free the chibok girls.

The contract later morphed into territory recovery prior to the election that was postponed for 3 months.

Sttep provided an airwing based on one mi-24 hind and a hand full of ex British bell and alhouettes choppers.
We bought about 40 mraps but with no communication gear, which led a South African to be mistakenly lit up by one of our t-72s. Whether it was a company or a battalion that Eeben trained, they led the way in all offensives . They engaged the enemy from the air , and behind enemy lines.
Again google vice news for the full story, they gave the Nigerian soldiers their prospers when it came to that battle field, when many western news agencies wanted to say it was the Chadians or the mercs. So we should also be honorable and not deny their effect on the battle field.

And also guys anyone spewing insults, rather than just debating the issue at hand is frankly dishonoring the memory of the young men that gave their last measure this week.

Besides Nigeria, Eeben has proven himself in Angola, Uganda, and Sierra Leone.

Oga Henry says because idps are coming home. Omo I beg read ed donklericuzio's twitter of today and read accounts of idps reenlisting to the al barnawi groups.
Just as I told you guys years ago that towns and bases will fall when bhts adds gun trucks to its repertoire, I can tell you that al barnawi group are ready again for maneuver warfare.

So now you think sttep did nothing to bhts. GEJ national security adviser hired them and any one can watch vice news account to see how the counteroffensive came about before the postponed election.

They didn't just walk away from gworza and bama. So let's be real here.

In fact, NA goes further back with eeben's other outfit the Executive outcomes to our days in Sierra Leone . How come they neutralized the RUF in a hundred days and we spent 10 years plus and could never contain them?

My friend it boils down to superior equipment and tactics. We didn't take advantage to learn then, you guys say we got nothing to learn now.
Go figure. I wonder why Nigeria is Nigeria.

Bull,
Henry you of all people should know that I am not here to waste mine or anybody's time. We had several differences of opinions in our beegeagles blog days and you know what has come to fruition and what has not.

Please if you are in touch with beegeagle, ask him to make our entries in his expired blog accessible to us that invested the time and emotion to make em.

That way we can really analyze who's analysis was spot on and otherwise.

It would provide some gravitas and clarity in the life and death analysis we are making today.

Eeben and co from the old SADF are mainly in their sixties now. So we are not hiring them for there physical prowess. Instead , we should be looking to tap into their concepts and experience through advise,training and mentorship relationships.

This only makes us better regardless of what one thinks of the old SADF. The UPDF we all see today especially in Amisom, their senior and mid level officers were largely mentored by STTEP.

And we all know our country. Lawmakers will hear Eeben or petraus more readily than they would a buratai.
For one, they can make a better presentation and have no political skin in the game.

When you are talking about spending an extra 1 billion dollars on defense, some SE senators are rightfully worried about python dances and not issues like helicopter borne assaults needed in the NE and middle belt states to contain the herdsmen over hilly terrain.

Also wanted to add RIP to all the gentlemen and women we lost. All expensive, sorry for those you lost.

So after an entire battalion just gets decimated at our nations border. Folks are still too proud to admit that nigeria is a counterinsurgency lightweight that could possibly learn from the experience of others?
Shekau and his group might be dwindling, but al barnawi with Isis tutelage in growing fat on Nigerian, nigerien and Cameroonian military supplies.

This group has us outclassed and outmaneuvered and folks still want to show case naija pride. O ya pump out your chest while other people's children die and nigeria gradually disintegrates.

I would continue to raise this issue, as my purpose is to influence someone who might be connected to our authorities. And hopefully some humility would dawn on some of our more jingoist bloggers.

We are in the dark groping for answers. We should be willing to listen to folks that has been there before. And have the requisite skills and dogma.

Stern prophet, what you excuse as a weekend mishap, signifies a dearth in the counterinsurgency best practices in our military leadership.

So how ever many well trained counterinsurgency special forces we have, the generals are prone to misapply their skills. Unless the generals are retrained in counterinsurgency concepts or have the benefit of advisers.

I never said Sttep or Eeben was only PMC out there. Stan michrystal and general petraus come to mind. Prior to Iraq, they authored the US army's concepts and best practices on counterinsurgency.

MPRI is a PMC that marries struggling armies like NA, and generals like Petraus.
Countries like Thailand, Philippines, Columbia, Mexico and Croatia have utilized their services. But I guess you know something they all don't.

I beg to differ oga bidexiii bringing Eeben and his crew back would be what the doctor ordered, but we will have to pay ten times as much if he takes the contract.

What buratai and co need the most is advisory work and of course standing up some more aggressive units such as the mobile strike teams. They just need to select from our existing special force units.

I believe our lawmakers will be more apt to release the purse strings, if they are professionally briefed on the needed strategy and expenditure.
Our military leadership is still fighting a conventional war of numbers and clearing terrain. Which is the WRONG tactics. We are finding out that we cannot out recruit the bhts

It is about FFFF Find, Fix, Flank, Finish. Over and over again.

Intelligence and ISR platforms help us to find and fix the enemy. Then we have to close in or flank in difficult ambush rich terrain.

Here horizontal envelopment with Mobile Strike Teams in appropriate mraps and apcs NOT hilux death traps. This muscular patrols helps troops survive ambushes and fight thru them thereby increasing troop morale.

We should have enough transport helicopters to vertically envelop troops on to the target.

Technology such as drones, ISR platforms night vision equipment would also be needed.

So who protects the chibok and dapchi s of the war zone ?

Please, NA empower the CJTFs with real weapons to take the initiative and clear their own communities. Anything else is just a waste of time and resources. After all, they should be forming the vanguard of nigeria's future community policing.

Any mopol and police in the region should be equipped as regular soldiers i.e. Gun trucks,Gpmgs and RPGs

Our commanders could use advise and mentorship from real counterinsurgency professionals. Regardless of the training the British and Americans are offering.

For our porous borders, trade be damned. We need to protect our nationals by any means necessary. No apologies. Mine the border in the difficult to man areas. Use escavators to dig border gun truck trap trenches like the camerounians have done.

The Mi-24 attack helicopter has a mine dispersal version. This will channel all traffic across the border to the legitimate crossing points.

About punishing anti Nigerian activity in chad or other neighbors , the more militarily capable nigeria is, the less the French or others can do about our actions

Yeah no set up here. I watched the bht tape of the attack. It was a full frontal assault on a battalion size nigerien camp with some Nigerian liaisons.
Those that stood and fought died a gruesome death. Most broke and ran for it. The munition of the base was captured in its entirety.

What if NAF headed some of our calls and purchased the Russian/ex Indian Air Force SU-30ks, that our oil rival Angola eventually purchased. They would have been able to strike a base like bosso at will and neutralize the captured weapons before they could cause further havoc.

18 of those sukhois were going for as little as 150 million US dollars. Just what NAF needed but GEJ and co were still partying themselves stupid in Abuja then.

Nothing stops PMB and co. To go to Russia and try to replicate the deal. But they think bhts would hand them a cheap and easy victory.

NO WAY

I have said this and I will repeat it till I die. Nigeria will lose this war unless we smarten up, bury our pride and ego, and hire A reputable, effective PMC to guide our defense establishment out of this current mess.

We have excellent quality troops and special forces, but what is the quality of their leadership. What is the quality of their equipment? What is the quality of the current civilian leadership executive and legislature?

This tragedy began last year, when bhts overran bosso military camp in niger republic. They killed about 33 Nigerien troops and captured a treasure trove of arms to include upwards of 40 gun trucks,most mounted with Z-23-2&4 AAA. This has a higher caliber and a longer range then NA's standard mount.
They also captured Chinese apcs, 122mm artillery, mortars, RPGs and belts and boxes of ammo. Ironically, an improvised 90mm gun of Nigerian make attached to a tow truck was used to attack bosso.

I sounded the alarm then, that all these weapons were going to descend on some un unsuspecting NA unit in nigeria in no time.

Fast forward to the attack n jilii, we are now hearing of concealed howitzers and overwhelming gun truck firing.

Yeah bro 1st I think you are mixing the narrative of the 2 different attacks.

The ambush around bama area as described by the theater commander began as a search and destroy operation till their heavier vehicles got bugged down in mud then bht like the hyenas they are gathered to take advantage of the stuck apcs and possibly tanks.
Thanks to the NAF and the suppressive fire by the AFSF, some of the vehicles have been recovered. It wasn't the 23 man missing story that was initially broadcast around the world.

NA must invest in several transport helicopters such as the mi-17 to perform a vertical envelopment of their target not the horizontal envelope net that was attempted in this case
Which are prone to get bogged down by the environment and/or enemy ambush.

Helicopter mobile assault the way to maneuver about the battle space, especially in the rainy season.

In the second story I am hearing that the base fell for a ruse as bht tricked them into thinking they were NA troops approaching, then opened fire at the gate.
If so, this is not a failure of situational awareness, as they were aware of the approach , but a colossal failure of intelligence
They should be sure of all own troop movements about the battle space.
Here I am hearing that things were not as bad as first reported.

Let's all hope NA's version of the store holds up

I am sorry the L-39s are still with the Czech Republic in Nigerian colours
I am sure that the money budgeted for the remainder of this IBB purchase went down the proverbial rat hole

The Czechs has offered to upgrade them for us or for us to swap em out for more up to date planes.

Yet they remain there collecting dust while the entire northern border with niger is on the verge of collapsing.

Yobe state needs an air base asap. After dapchi and this latest mishap.

What is going on with the 3 Brazilian Air Force super. Tucano that they offered us when Obama was stringing us along?

Nigeria still has 29 or so L-39s that can be configured for night attack.

Add 4 mi-24 hinds and any bht convoy will be blown to kingdom com.

Those that say no money, there are cheap ways to get some of these done.
But we have to be proactive and not lazy beggars.

And the Jordanians have already offered us 200 Apcs. Are we waiting for king Hussein to ship it himself? Or can someone in HQ make themselves useful innoson and dangote have shown that when given the chance, civil society will rise to the occasion.

Just organize a fundraiser and then patriotic Nigerian companies can volunteer cash,goods and services.
In this instance, a company that ships heavy equipment can also volunteer to go to Jordan, U.K. Or US to pick up these donated or sold items
Shikena?

Bros, my problem with these cheap helicopters you mention is the same with NA's hiluxes. They are thin skinned in a battle space replete with mounted AAAs
Senegal is refurbishing and upgrading 4 L-39s and 3 to 5 mi-24s with the help of Poland. We in nigeria are taking what seems like the entire duration of the war to get 12 brand new mi-35. And we are spending top dollar. But the Senegalese would get theirs quicker with night vision capabilities of our brand new mi-35m.

We need to invest in cheaper stop gap measures ala Senegal, Angola and Sudan.

If we are refurbishing our old British tanks, ifv and APC s, why can't we turn to U.K. And the Jordanians for help. They have operated these vehicles, retired them, and have better upgrade solutions than we do.

Please some desk riding general should make themselves useful and google British and American excess defense articles. They would see that for an army like NA that would rather sacrifice an entire generation in hiluxes. There are hundreds of upgraded scimitars to be had.
We can get chieftain tanks from the Jordanians and re engine it with old t-72 tanks.

From the new trump administration, we can get almost whatever we. Want from the Americans

List of equipment on the Us excess to requirement defense articles are as follows: predator drones, Stryker apc s,humvess, up armed and regular ones, all manner of mraps used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some of us saw and predicted the hydra head security nightmare facing Nigeria as far back as 1999 when Obj came back to power .
I started blogging about it circa 2012 on beegeagles blog

Be that as it may, PMB is not only to blame
Though he should definitely take the lions share
Lawmakers that played politics delaying the budget and those who opposed the billion dollar spending package also have blood on their hands

Truth is we need upwards of 15 billion dollars to set our security architecture a right

We need to begin by facing our porous border nightmare with smart and crude technologies

Let’s fence our 3 borders am talking fencing, razor wire, helicopter mining and even solar electric fencing
We need drones and motion detectors and 50 plus refurbished and upgraded mi-24s to respond day and night along the borders

More to come

For one to consider himself as a military analyst, one has to be dispassionate about the source of accurate information.
We need to analyze what a gwan with accurate field information and that can be from any source

Unfortunately our military like many others play fast and lose with the truth
This is counterproductive and only postpones the doomsday

The cover ups and lies Nigerian army has told since the ecomog wars of yesteryears are still haunting them today

Oluwa Burner deserves a Grammy for that song. That song needs more recognition not rasclot covers.

Point of discussion .where does burned boy's patois brilliance and fluidity come from ?

It's not forced and doesn't sound practiced. It sounds like a mother tongue. Unlike that of wizkid.

Anyway, good try fella, but methinks this is the wrong sound or artist to mess with his work.

The solution to this killings is simple. Since Nigerian army and police want to stay missing in action, governor Ortom and any other affected state should use their security vote to go and hire MERCENARIES aka Private Military Companies.

They will come with their own equipment and logistics . They would also train and outfit a state gendarmerie.

The national authorities could help or just stay out the way.

But their primary responsibility will be to hunt and destroy the killer herdsmen by any means necessary .

The CJTF was getting the job done at some point. But some fool in govt or the security apparatus is afraid of them growing wings, so they would let them arm themselves with anything other than Dane guns.

This war is almost lost. And continuing the wrong strategy will only lead to wrong results. let us start the experiment of localizing of the police in the north east.

1) With immediate effect, let the cjtf carry assault weapons like the kamajors eventually did in Sierra Leone . They should be funded by the state govt, and a state panel that includes the governor, mayors, judiciary and traditional rulers will over see their command and conduct.

This will form the nucleus of the state police force . NPF existing forces from the state should be sent home to augment this force. This state gendarmerie will be provided for by the security vote and state IGR.

NA should only remain a back up to this force..

This keeps bbt on the back foot. You are constantly chasing and harassing them based on intel generated from surveillance assets.

This is not about clearing territory for bhts to return the next day

There must be total. Buy in of the strategy , so you don't have conventionally minded generals waisting the lives of well trained counterinsurgency troops.
By misusing them.

Ok let me give this a go.

TTPs refer to technique, tactics and procedures.

In the hunter/killer world of counterinsurgency, this refers to the 3 Fs.

Find, Fix, some say Flank and Kill cycle.

So how is NA really performing Vis a viv these concepts.

NAF has invested in Chinese and indigenous drones to improve ISR which improves our ability to FIND. The US has donated our piloted ISR platforms we need to buy more at least 12 planes.

FIX: might refer to the precision targeting process.

Closing or flanking is NA's Achilles heel.
Our well trained/foreign trained special forces need the appropriate chariots to close in and take out the just spotted enemy.
Here, hilux trucks is not always survivable .

That's why reva mraps were used by 72 MSF to horizontally envelop the battle space. Accounting for the rough ambush and IED prone terrain.
We also need mi-17 helicopters to ferry troops vertically to their target.

Kill: neutralize with extreme prejudice .

Gentlemen, I believe we have now come full circle on the issue of PMCs. Circa 2014 and even earlier I was known on beegeagles blog for recommending that NA employ the services of a good PMC as military advisers/mentors.

For some reason this was the most opposed pov on that blog ever.

Colonel eeben was finally subcontracted in the waning days of GEJ's government . He stood up and advised on the equipping of the 72MSF.

Their TTPs were clearly based on that of the buffalo mrap riding SADF in Namibia .This unit to date has been the tip of the spear against BHTs
And NAs most effective unit.

But PMB d/ced eebens contract and our military went back to winging it.

NA needs embedded advisors to prosecute and win this war period.

Congratulations ! Akwa ibom state. Now you need to import cowboys with guns from America to protect this strategic project, cause the "Indians" are coming.

No wonder things are so dastardly retched for the youth in edo state.

See the plight of the young man shown on CNN that was enslaved and sodomized in Libya. Thousands of young women traveling to Libya then onto Italy to engage in prostitution.

The elected APC government of Oshiomole and now Obaseki are refusing to fight this genocidal, ethnic cleansing Fulani herdsmen with all their might.

Why ?.? Please don't tell me it is the fear of offending the APC president PMB. Furthermore, The federal security forces are being allowed to strangle the local economy by extorting money from citizens trying to go to work.

Then they wouldn't do their job which is to protect the citizenry from these terrorist herdsmen.

Vengeance is mine says the Lord.

Deway7575:
DOZIEX!!! my man! Long time! Always frank and straight to the point. No time for unnecessary bickering.
Its sickening how we use our military. Very quick to use the military to shut down anti-government views and populism while they keep mum in the face of external aggression. Cameroon and Chad, we know. Even Benin Rep forces had an incursion across our western border last year, and there was no response from us. Not even a peep from the MOD, DHQ. Nothing.
So much could have been done over many years and so much more could be done now with what we have, but hey, they prefer some of the most infantile and ridiculous operations: Op Python dance, Cat Race, Crocodile Smile and all sorts of nonsense.

Hey Deway7575, what's up bro ? How is life after beeg eagles blog? �
Anyway, I also miss your very informed contributions. One day, technology would allow for such archives to be unraveled and studied.