₦airaland Forum

BitmapStudios:
12 of course.
I saw him some years back at Golf club in 2Div Nigerian Army, Ibadan. He sponsored a tournament in honor of his wife. And someone there told me he was the man that stopped Awolowo winning, collected some big money and fled to the UK.
Just don't know how true all that is and thought you might have an insight. Or perhaps, you will open a thread and enlighten us his role, life and times. Thank You sir.

BitmapStudios:
I've read a similar story somewhere, you do care to shed more light.
CC: Naptu2

A: Attack
C: Cargo (i.e., transport)
D: Drone (i.e., drone control)
E: Electronic warfare
F: Fighter
H: Help aircraft (i.e., search and rescue)
K: Kerosene Carrier (i.e., tanker)
L: Equipped for cold weather operations
M: Multi-mission (i.e., Special Operations)
O: Observation
P: Maritime patrol
Q: Unmanned aerial vehicle
R: Reconnaissance
S: Surface warfare
T: Trainer
U: Utility
V: VIP transport
W: Weather reconnaissance

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).

DriggityDre:
I thought as much. Was it even shown in order? Most of these viewing stations are guilty of randomizing episodes. Today S1E9, tomorrow S5E2..

Ishilove:
Na who be T?