This post was created before the air wing idea was approved.
naptu2: Aha! Time to look at the other side of the argument
I have often examined one side of the argument, but I'm not sure that I've examined the other side of the argument on this thread (maybe I have, but I can't remember).
You see, there's a problem in the war in the North-East and the Nigerian Air Force has proposed a solution (the Super Tucano) and the Nigerian Army has proposed a solution. I have often examined the solution that was proposed by the Air Force, now let's look at the Army's idea.
But first, before we look at the solution, we need to understand the problem. I will illustrate the problem by using 2 old videos that I have previously posted on this thread.
Video 1) US troops were operating in a valley in Afghanistan when they were pinned down by 3 snipers on the mountain. We can actually hear the sniper's bullet as it whizzes past. The American soldiers try to take out the snipers, but it is difficult because the snipers are on a vantage position.
The troops manage to injure one of the snipers, but are unable to do real damage (they are actually listening to the snipers' radios).
The ground troops had to call in air support. What I want you to note is the time it took the jet to get there. I want you to note the time period between when the ground troops called for air support and when the jet arrived to bomb the snipers.
Video 2) I've posted this video a long time ago and I posted it again recently. The video shows US forces mistakenly killing some Iraqi journalists and then also killing and injuring the people that came to help them. What I want you to note in this video is the loiter time of the aircraft.
Note that the aircraft was able to slowly fly around the mission area in a circle to identify moving targets, assess the result of its action and take out any targets that escaped its initial attack. Also note that, unlike the jet in the first video, this aircraft was able to remain over the battlefield for a long time.
Ground troops in the North-East complain that it takes too long for the aircraft to show up when they request for air support. The Air Force also complains that their jets are too fast to properly engage the moving targets on the ground, they need to be refuelled often and so the jets can't stay over the battlefield for too long and the reason that it takes so long for the aircraft to arrive the battlefield is because the jets have to fly from proper air bases (Maiduguri or Yola Air Bases), while the helicopters are too slow to get there from far away Maiduguri and Yola.
I remember quite well that we used the Alphas as fighter-bombers in Liberia and Sierra Leone, but that was a different kind of warfare. The Alphas were bombing static targets like bases and so on in Liberia, while in the North-East we have to deal with small bands of moving guerrillas and insurgents.
The Air Force's solution to this problem is the Super Tucano. It's a turbo prop so it can land and take off almost anywhere (it doesn't even need a proper runway), it's a turbo prop, so it doesn't use as much fuel as the jets and therefore it can loiter over the mission area for a longer time and it can fly slower and attack the targets on the ground, assess the damage and attack again if necessary. It's also faster than the helicopters and can get to the mission area quicker.
That's the Air Force's solution. Here's the Army's idea.
The Army's idea met with enormous criticism and a massive debate. There are many people that agree with the idea and many people who are opposed. I'll give you both sides of the argument beginning with the Army's idea.
The Army wants to have. . .its own air wing.
The Nigerian Army believes that the solution to the problem is to have its own air wing filled with a fleet of helicopters. It believes that those helicopters should stay at the battlefront with the ground troops and that they should be able to provide support to the ground troops when needed.
The Army believes that having its own air wing will solve another problem, apart from the problems that I listed above. The ground troops sometimes need to be medically evacuated when they are injured. However, it often takes the medivac aircraft a long time to arrive and the Army believes that it would be better if these helicopters are at the battlefront with the ground troops (the troops would get the much needed emergency medical attention very quickly).
These helicopters, the army believes, will also be very useful for reconnaissance missions.
That's the Army's argument. What do the critics say?
1) The critics say that buying helicopters for the Army will be like buying helicopters for Boko Haram. They say that the Army wants the helicopters to be at the battlefront with the ground troops, but what happens if their positions are overrun by Boko Haram? That means that Boko Haram would now have helicopters!!!
2) The critics say that there is no need for an Army Air Wing. They say that the Nigerian Air Force already exists and that it is the job of the Air Force to provide air support. They say that creating an Army air wing will amount to duplication of functions.
3) I'm sure you've predicted this argument . Following from the earlier point, critics believe that the only reason that the Army wants its own air wing is to enable soldiers to steal money.
4) Some critics say that the Super Tucanos will solve the problems and therefore there is no need for an Army air wing.
The Nigerian Army Air Wing has commenced operation and they are buying Hueys.
naptu2: This will give you an idea of why the Nigerian Army wants its own aviation corp.
This is the most famous example of an army fighting in the air. One of the most common symbols of the Vietnam War is the Bell UH-1 Iroquois aka "Huey".
The Huey was used by the US Army for close air support, medical evacuations and as a troop transport. It is not an attack helicopter, rather it is more of a transport helicopter in which you can fit a door gunner.
Here is a short documentary about the Huey's service in Vietnam.
naptu2: The Nigerian Navy has a fleet of naval helicopters that it operates from its frigates and corvettes. These helicopters are used for anti-submarine warfare, airborne early warning, search and rescue operations, medical evacuations and boarding search and seizure operations.
The Nigerian Navy has mainly used Lynx, Augusta Westland and Bell Jet Ranger helicopters. The Navy has two air stations, the Nigerian Navy Air Station, Ojo (I've been there) and the Nigerian Navy Air Station, Warri-Effurun.
Picture 2: President Buhari watching NNS Kada from aboard NNS Sokoto.
Picture 3: President Buhari exchanging greetings with the chief of defence staff General Lucky Irabor, the chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, the chief of air staff Air Marshal Oladayo Amao and the representative of the inspector general of police. Behind President Buhari is the minister of defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (retired).
I'm getting old. I'm now mixing up Operation Seadog and Operation Odion and I can't remember the name of the 1995 operation in Lekki.
I can still remember what happened, but I can't remember which was which.
I think it was Operation Odion (in 1987) that President Babangida flew from Ribadu Road to NNS Aradu in a navy helicopter and he and the service chiefs observed the operation from the deck of the frigate. Nigerian Air Force Alphas and Jaguars participated in the operation and I saw as they flew past the ships.
Now was it Seadog or Odion that featured NNS Ambe? The point of the exercise was for NNS Ambe to land amphibious troops in Lekki and for the troops to invade land from sea.
I think Operation Seadog was in 1985.
There was another operation that I remember very well, but I don't remember its name. That was an army exercise in Lekki. They put up fox fire signs all over the place.
naptu2: The Nigerian Air Force has had ground troops for quite a while. However, in response to Boko Haram's attack on Maiduguri Airport and Air Force Base, the leadership of the Air Force decided in 2015 to create the Nigeria Air Force Regiment as a means of coordinating the various ground troops groups in one structure.
The Nigeria Air Force Regiment is made up of:
1) The Special Operations Force (basically, the Nigerian equivalent of the Special Air Service).
2) Quick Response Force (the Air Force equivalent of the army's Quick Response Group. Their job is to protect the Air Force's bases and to engage in counter-terrorism operations).
3) VIP protection squad
4) Regiment training centre.
It also includes paratroopers.
This is a documentary about the Nigerian Air Force special forces. It also includes footage of some of the troops that were trained by the British advisory team and the Israelis. (The British Government sent a team of SAS and SBS commandos to train the Nigerian Air Force special forces).
naptu2: I was going to do this yesterday, but I didn't have the time. I'm going to write about the idea that the army doesn't only fight on land, the navy doesn't only fight on water and the air force doesn't only fight in the air.
I'll do it in bits and pieces, so that I don't get bogged down like I have with the Lagos series.
I'm in Lagos at the moment and the army division that is responsible for Lagos and Ogun states is known as the 81 Division. It is an amphibious division. In fact, its logo was once a hippopotamus (I have seen 3 logos at Dodan Barracks, the black scorpion in the 1970s and '80s, the hippopotamus in the 2000s and the palm tree in the 2010s).
Their job is to fight in rivers, creeks, lakes streams and to work with the Navy to attack land from sea. That's why they have often had amphibious exercises. In recent years the amphibious training and exercises have taken place in Badagry, but I remember that once upon a time, when Lekki was mainly made up of bushes and swamps, they took place in Lekki.
Basically, the army also fights in and on water.
Here are pictures of amphibious training in Badagry, the old hippopotamus logo and some Nigerian Army boats.
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naptu2: You might have heard by now that the Nigerian Navy is planning to establish a desert warfare centre in Kano. This has led to criticism and condemnation from some people. Normally I would slam and condemn such people, but I won't do that this time because I can understand where they are coming from. They have the old idea of the military that I had in the early 1980s. That idea says that:
The Army fights on land, the Navy fights on water and the Air Force fights in the air.
That very simplistic idea does not explain what the military does. The Navy fights in the air, land and sea and even under water, the Army fights on land, air and sea and the Air Force fights in the air, on land and even in outer space.
The second mistake that they are making is that they think that the North is made up of deserts and no bodies of water. That's obviously not true.
So why does the Navy need a desert warfare centre? What's the Navy, which they think is supposed to fight on water, got to do with deserts? Well, there are two reasons and here they are:
1) Lake Chad: Back in the 1980s I imagined what it would be like if the Nigerian Navy had a base on Lake Chad. I did not realise at the time that they already had a base there and I could not have imagined how important that base would be decades later.
There are many uninhabited islands on Lake Chad and Boko Haram had developed a tactic of retreating to those islands whenever they were put under pressure by the Nigerian military. The Air Force and the Navy have been involved in many operations to clear those islands and there has been a tug of war between the Nigerian Military and Boko Haram for control of the islands.
Furthermore, that area is very important. The residents of that area previously earned a living from fishing, but they have not been able to carry out that occupation because of fear of Boko Haram. It has been up to the Navy to assure the residents that it is safe to fish in the area. Boko Haram also earns revenue from the area by imposing taxes on the fishermen.
I would have shown you evidence of all of these, but I don't want to spread Boko Haram propaganda. Boko Haram once captured the Naval Base on the shore of Lake Chad and they released a video that showed them jubilating on Nigerian Navy boats. The Navy recaptured the based a few days later (this was in 2019). I am obviously not going to post that video.
2) Special forces The military's special forces are some of the best trained and equipped fighters that it has and they are all needed in the war in the North-East. The Nigerian Navy Special Boat Service (SBS) has also been involved in the war against terrorists as you can see from the video that I posted earlier. The Boko Haram prisoners that were interviewed were being guarded by Nigerian Navy SBS commandos.
The Naval personnel that guard the Navy Bases on the shores of the Lake Chad, as well as the SBS commandos that battle the terrorists, need to be trained in desert warfare and this training was previously done in the United States. I don't see anything wrong if those that were trained in the US are now going to train other Naval personnel at the desert warfare school in Kano.
naptu2: That is the other thing that I didn't include in my post about the naval base in Kano. That's because I wanted to be nice to the people that opposed it. Most of them do not know that their emotions are being whipped up by people who have ulterior motives. Why?
Because the concept of stone frigates is not new in Nigeria. At least we know that one of the reasons for establishing the desert warfare centre is to train people to protect the naval base at Lake Chad, what about all the naval establishments in places that do not have any international borders or waterways on international borders for the Navy to operate in? How come there has been no outrage and uproar about those establishments?
I'm referring to naval establishments in places like Ilorin in Kwara State, Odekpe in Anambra State, Abeokuta in Ogun State, Oguta in Imo State, Offa in Kwara State, Owerrinta in Imo State, etc. How come there's no noise about these bases, but there's an uproar about the naval base in Kano?
baralatie: Army does not fight in the air.they are not supermen Navy does not fight on land they are not Aquaman Air force does not even have the wherewithal to fight on land they are not thor
naptu2: Let's expand on this idea that the Navy does not only fight on water, the air force does not only fight in the air and the army does not only fight on land. Let's go international.
The issue that led to the controversy is that the Nigerian Navy announced that it was setting up a desert warfare school in Kano. So let's look at other navies in the desert.
These are US Navy Seals (the equivalent of the Nigerian Navy SBS) fighting in the deserts of Iraq.
Watch these badass Navy Seals in action in the desert. A tribute to Navy Seals using declassified footage.
Navy in the air: Navy pilots operate war planes from aircraft carriers, they operate helicopters from corvettes, frigates, destroyers, etc.
Navy on land: The Navy have special forces like the Special Boat Service that fight on land. They carry out special missions. Furthermore, you have the marines that are associated with the navy. They invade land from warships.
Everybody knows that the Navy also fights on water and underwater.
naptu2: I wonder if I can find that video. It's such a long time and I can't even remember the context very well.
naptu2: Haha. I underestimated myself. I found it at first try. It's from 2013. I even found the Nairaland thread.
Al-Jazeera interviewed some arrested Boko Haram fighters, but that's not why I'm posting the video. I'm posting it because I want you to take note of the masked Nigerian Navy SBS commando in the background.
The PMB Unity Cup, an annual football and polo competition being organized in his honour, is a part of his post-presidency activities to promote youth development, sportsmanship, and community unity.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari graced the final match of the PMB Unity Cup 2024 at the Daura Township Stadium.
The PMB Unity Cup, an annual football and polo competitions, being organized in his honor, is a part of his post-presidency activities aimed at promoting youth development, sportsmanship, and community unity.
Muhammadu Buhari expressed his appreciation for the initiative, noting the role of sports in promoting peace and development among young people.
He commended the organizers for their dedication to sustaining the tournament and encouraged the players to embrace discipline and teamwork, both on and off the field.
The PMB Unity Cup has become a significant event in Daura zone, symbolizing the former President’s enduring connection with his community and his commitment to the growth of grassroots sports.
Politics › Re: 1000 Naval Officers To Be Deployed To Maradun, Zamfara – Minister, Matawalle by naptu2: 3:08pm On Dec 26, 2024
. Following from the earlier point, critics believe that the only reason that the Army wants its own air wing is to enable soldiers to steal money.