₦airaland Forum

This is the alpha jet:

This picture is a class picture of a class being trained at the air weapons college kainji, the aircraft there is the light trainer called the alpha jet, u wont believe all the students share that alpha and the same trainer is used for ground offensives when the Airforce call upon it, A friend of mine that went to the college said he never had the opportunity of being traine in that aircraft because it ws on national duty some where, We don't have a military and thats the truth another bitter truth is that we can't afford a modern fightin force now.

That is NOT the alpha jet. That is the L-39 albatross used for advance flight training, and it could also double as a light-armed combat aircraft.

My approach to this problem will be from two perspectives, in the first instance a socio-economic as well as political has to be proffered. The people have to be on your side, communities have to be engaged, & I don’t mean a few selfish big belly chiefs seeking self interest to the detriment of anybody else.


Again, excellent points.

You need units of Special Forces well armed with laser technology identifying targets on the ground for Apache (my preferred attack helicopter) to take out. Special Forces operating independently in the mangrove (stealth) but with co-ordinated communications for 7days at a time without need for supplies, combing the terrain and taking out targets.

i wouldn't go for the AH-64 apache. I would still stick with the mi-35 (24V).That helicopter is basically a flying tank. it may not have a sophisticated avionic suit as the apache, but it has about the same fire power, if not better.It also has the advantage of being very quiet, making it difficult for the enemy to locate till it's too late. it is also doubles as a utility helicopter, capable of carrying about 7 armed soldiers. And it's extremely capable when it comes to hugging the terrain.No wonder it's ranked among the top 5 combat helicopters in the world and it's nickname (Satan's chariot).

You make an excellent point about the use of special forces, and i totally support it.That is why the army, in conjuction with the navy, have been training a few selected soldiers in the navy's underwater warfare school, and the army's special forces wing at the Infantry Training Centre were they are taught hostage rescue skill,CQBs,etc.Anyway, it's old news. I still believe that we need more fast attack crafts and combat helicopters. These would be used the amphibous units and the JTF so that they could act as a quick-reaction force (QRF) that's also spec-ops capable.They'll support the special forces elements.

they won't be threat if u had a real police force and border guards. the mexican mafia knows not to go deep into texas or california. that's a death sentence for them.

Right, the US employs the best technology at it's borders at the north with canada and the south with mexico, but immigrants and drug peddlers still sneak through. Do also have to add that the terrain down there is far better than what we have here in nigeria? The sahara desert aint child's play, and you only have to fly over the mangrove swamps, or better still take a speed-boat ride to appreciate what we are up against.All the same, i agree that our border guards (customs) and the police have to be improved.

venezuela doesn't like the US. but that doesn't mean the US considers venezuela a millitary threat. countries like benin,niger, and ivory coast wouldn't even dare invade nigeria. let's be realistic here.

Ivory coast and Burkina faso provided the NPLF and RUF with a safe haven and weapons during th liberian and sierra leonean civil war. So yes, they were, and are still considered a threat to us.

these are the ugliest uniforms i have ever seen. orange and brown is that supposed to be a sort of camouflage??

The british and australians use the orange flight suit.but i guess in your eyes they look better in it than us.We use two flight suits: orange (mainly during traing) and green.

By the way, the "brown" thing you see? It is actually part of the flight kit. Due to the high-Gs combat pilots experience, it is used to restrict blood flow so as to prevent the pilot from blanking out.And it is GREEN.

To battle the militants, what they need are lots of heavily armed gunboats that can operate in shallow waters and helicopters. They should buy more mil-35 (it's one of the best in its class), use the pumas and augusta 109s for transport.

the best defense isn't always attack in all cases. the germans went on attack in the battle of bulge and see how that ended up?? the nigerian millitary has no real threats other than cameroun. i see no reason why we can't have a self-defense force like japan with paramillitaries and voluntary service in case of emergency(like switzerland). our defensive capabilities especially the navy should be enhanced rather than wasting money on peacekeeping missions when we don't even have peace in our own home. the nigerian navy needs cruisers and destroyers to deal with the niger delta problem. streamline the army IMO.

WRONG. The germans failed in world war 2 because of one thing: they opened a new front in the east (operation barbarossa) and that was a very big mistake.

Also, you are so wrong to say that we don't have enemies. You only have to go through security briefings to see the real picture.
- Most francophone countries in west africa don't like us simply because we're the top dog in the region. That's why they covertly provided charles taylor with support. Why do you think we weren't so keen in helping ivory coast when they had problems? Go figure it.

-oil is currently a very important resource in the major economies in the world. the middleeast is boiling, venezuela could decide to close the tap, so their next option is africa.so, if causing problems within the country is going to provide them with cheap oil,they'll do it.

-Nigeria's status as a country that is not under the sphere of any major power, and the fact that we influence what happens in Africa has not really endeared us to some countries both in the west and east.

- heavily armed raiders that come in from our northern borders shared with Chad.There's currently fears that the currently fears that the fighting in chad will spill over to nigeria, and the military is currently on red alert.

-Finally, you have the foes within e.g niger-delta militants, MASSOB.

So you see, the fact that we have people smiling at us doesn't mean that they wish us well.

it wouldn't be a police problem. if the police and customs had been able to stop weapon's smuggling. in the US, terrorist groups are disintegrated using the secret service/police. what are the coast guards and Nigerian police doing? nothing. what does Nigeria need a bloated army for when u have an high poverty rate?? create a self-defense force like japan and delay the expansion of the armed forces 4 a while.

We do not have a bloated army.1999, the size of the military was slashed from 200,000+ to a mere 80,000 (combined arms) and it is still that way. this is far less than what most african countries have.Normally, it would have been a bad thing due to the low manpower, it but it made more sense `cos:
- we now have a military that is much more mobile.
-the fire power has really improved.
-the country saves more money. The extra money could be used to improve their welfare and training.More gears could be bought.

i wouldn't advice that the Nigerian military be transformed to a defense force. what we need is a military that is small, well trained, and highly mobile. Besides, the best form of defense is attack.

My heart goes out to those our guys, they are almost being commisioned for suicide missions, no body armour, no night vision, no air support, etc, etc.

Well, we don't really have many units of NVGs and i really hope we buy more, but the body armour is now a standard issue (at least for those in combat - e.g the Niger-delta). Air support is still a problem due to the low number of helos we have (the BO-105 has been withdrwan from service), but the airforce and navy continues to provide Combat Air support for the army and patrols almost everyday in the Niger-Delta with the mil-35 gunships.

Finally the AK47 is rugged & reliable has a higher calibre round but precision zero compared to the SA80 now with UGL or M16 and for most they come with NV sights as standard.

If i was to choose between the ak-47 and the british sa-80, i would DEFINITELY choose the ak-47 (it's a no-brainer).You only have to go through the negative reviews given about the sa-80, ESPECIALLY by the British army (they were wondering why they didn't just stick to the FN-FAL or buy the far better G-36) to see that it isn't a rifle of choice.As a matter of fact, it's problems were so bad that the british MOD had to call in Heckler & Koch to redesign to rifle.

How cool a rifle looks does not make it a good one, but rather it's reliablity, accuracy, and most of all, the training of man behind the rifle.

Do you know that when they go on UN missions they are payed commensurate pay and when they get temp. demobbed at airport all the money is taken off them, i had a few NCO's complaining to me on return from UN peace keeping mission.

WOW!! Who fed you this rubbish?Soldiers and policemen sent on foreing missions are paid twice as much as their collegues left in the country.Please get your facts straight.

With giant of Africa tag we have and our international standing and our vast oil reserves we have no choice but to have a competent military force. Consider the humilation, Nigerian soldiers butchered like chickens by a bunch of Sudanese rag-tag rebels, that situation is completely unacceptable i am sure they didnt have the logistics nor the equipment to respond. This is reality, in Liberia the army didnt even have enough trucks not APC,s just basic trucks to meet their operational responsibility, maybe the ones they had were tokunboh from berger? UN had to put in an official complaint, imagine!!!

I knew the darfur issue was going to come up, so i'll clarify a few things. In darfur we currently have about 4000-7000 combat troops that's also including the Rwandans. Remove the HQ and support personnel and you have a less amount. Now these troops are charged with protecting an area that is roughly the size of france (correct me if i'm wrong).that means that they are heavily extended. as a result of this, it's going to be EXTREMELY difficult to provide reinforcement.To make matters worse, travelling by road is very dangerous and difficult, and there is only one helicopter. This poses a logistical nightmare.

Now at the base that was attacked, we had about 100. let me list out a few things they had to face:

- They faced an enemy that numbered about 1000+ and heavily armed. That meant the ratio was about 10:1 if not more.
- They had NO combat air support. That is the one thing that gives most armies in the west an edge.

With these problems, and the fact that reinforcement was going to take a long time to get to the base simply worked against our boys, and i don't think any military would have done better.At the end of the fire fight, some nigerian soldiers got killed with some MIA. But at least they stood their ground.

[b]There are practices, strategies and equipment that are essentially there's barest minimum and then there’s the basic standard.

Now standard should have some relationship to national wealth (GDP), ability and socio-economic/poitical expectation regional and international. What standard do we have or expect from our Military or like electricity do we expect darkness and failure always.

How many MI35’s do we have that are operational? These attack helicopters are far from the best they should have infra red imaging, however, I doubt this. My suspicions are that our dearest wife corruption, misappropriation, over inflation has made us by substandard and second hand equipment. This should be no surprise, are our officers not selling equipment to the same militants? (30,000 AK47’s missing from the armoury of the Nigerian armoury)

If you trained with the SAS, Navy seals, and Delta Force with the best equipment you get home and they give you an AK47 and say go on do your job it’s a waste of time.

We make $150 million dollars a day from oil at least. When our Uncles, Grandfathers and Mothers in power want to buy cars for themselves they don’t buy Lada, Volga and Moskvitch. They know how to get the latest of the latest Lexus, BMW, Merc. And Cadillac.

However, when it comes to national security we look for Chinese, Russian, Indian etc.

Our Air force, Navy & Army would fail comprehensively by commensurate and comparative analysis.

Egypt has been buying F16’s and F18’S for over 25 years one F18 will take out 5 Mig 21’s upgraded or not, ask Iran and Iraq they will testify. Egypt’s GDP does not exceed ours.

Ocelot 2006 I respect your comments and your optimism. [/b]


you make very good points here. as you've said, corruption has really affected the military. i saw the news about some army officers arrainged for court martial, and i really hope they face the firing squad .But unlike most people on this thread, i still appreciate the little sacrifices the military has made for us nigerians, i still have a lot of hope in them, as i do for my country.

by the way, you forgot one thing about Egypt. The US gives Egypt a large amount of defence aid ever since the end of the yom-kippur war, provided they live in peace with isreal.that's why they are able to but (at a reduced price). so they've been spoon-fed basically, unlike us.But we're always active within and outside the continent, ready to help our fellow brothers, unlike the egyptians.

you also forgot that , `though we've made lots of profits due to the high price of oil, there are other sectors of the country that requires more attention like the power sector, health care and education. in the end, we may not have enough money to buy all the kits that our boys need.

IR imaging is old technology. Every helicopter bought by us lately from the navy's Augusta 109s,FEMA's mi-14, and the Mil-35 hind gunships are equipped with NVGs. it's a standard for night ops.

i agree that the mig-21 is outdated,and based on old 60s/70s design.it lacks the current avionic suit seen in more modern aircrafts and its operational radius is quite small unless when fitted with external drop tanks. but it is a very capable aircraft. the reason a lot have bn shot down is due to the fact that pilots that flew them were not well trained and that is a very important factor that comes into play in a dog-fight. most countries that flew them had their doctrines based old that of the old soviet union which places a lot of restrictions on the pilot while giving more control to the ground contrllers.in the end,you had pilots that couldn't think for themse

as old and ugly as the AK-47 is, it is hands down the BEST, and MOST RELIABLE rifle in the world. that's why it's design was copied for other rifles like the isreali galil, the finnish valmet, the south african R4. my only problem now is that the military introduce optics as they are now a standard and they improve accuracy. i would also li,e to see the introduction of the HK mp5 for our counter-terror units.But if it makes you happy, we still have other types like the FN-FAL, and g-3.

This cadets are not only subjected to horrible treatments, but molestation to make them subordinate.

What do you expect? You expect their trainers to feed them with candy? This is how you weed out poor-officer material because you are expected to make decisions under an intense or very stressfull conditions.In the end what you have are capable men.You think ours is bad?Find out more about the Plebe period that cadets of the US military academy go through.My favourite are the russians and Isrealis.

[b]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those who say the Nigerian millitary is worth there salt, all they need to do is see there incompetency in quenching the insurgency in the Niger Delta. The only thing they know is how to pick on harmless, defenseless citizens, afterall, this is the same army where in order to cope up with the inadequacies or lack of funding for a well equipped and well trained standing army, soldiers are subjected to inhumane treatment all in the name of toughness. This cadets are not only subjected to horrible treatments, but molestation to make them subordinate. Proper 21st century millitary training is substituted for brutal and archaic "training". Let's see them perform a simple millitary manuever or quell an insurrection or uprising in the North whenever those great ones go crazy again. This is the so called "powerful army" that was woeful while enduring serious casualties during ECOMOG operations in sierra leone and liberia in the 90's despite the fact that the millitary was underreporting or flat out denying the number of millitary dead.

For those who say that Nigeria's army is the strongest in West Africa should know that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.[/b]

I'm not trying to say that we have the best military. If you go through my previous posts, i've said that we still have a lot of flaws from equipment, welfare of soldiers and sailors to training, thanks again to corruption. But as i said before, things are really changing for the better in the military.

As for the Niger-delta crisis;let me ask this question: how would you and most Nigerians feel if the govt. took all-out military action with the gloves off when the thoughts of incidents like Odi still rings in the minds of most Nigerians, especially those in the Niger-Delta?That is the one thing those in the top hierachy of the military and the federal govt do think about because the Niger-Delta problem is a very sensitive issue.Besides, continous military action may only make it worse. You've also forgotten that the military's fighting in a VERY DIFFICULT terrain (the swamps), and they lack a large number of helicopter.

By the way, i happened to witness the crisis and the military's intervention in PH, and i have to say that i was really glad that the military took over security.I'm also proud of the way they dealt with the militants.

[b] If an army is decided on size, yes we have one.
If an army is decided on capability then we have a question, are we technologically efficient ? are we disciplined, motivated and commited ??
The average army has a night time fighting capability, night vision is standard not an option.

Sometime ago i watched a BBC documentary of Sierra leone, and the cameras were live, at that moment a couple of rebels decided to let off a couple of rounds into the nigerian camp, cameras rolling see our guys ducking, jumping, rolling without direction and returning fire into the wind at assumed and hopeful targets, complete pandemonium, every body find level and the usual, i no wan die Oh.

I watched another documentary US soldiers, not navy seals, delta force or 82nd Airborne, just regular marines and some insurgents decided to let off some rounds the response was immediate marines running M16's blazing, M240's letting loose straight into the line of recieved fire, in hot pursuit, No Shakin ! No Fear !! disciplined, directed, determined, proffessional and efficient.

Imagine 10 Egbesu boys with a few chinese made AK47's , RPG's and a couple of high calibre MG,s enter PH(for day time not night) the city go close it will almost take a whole battalion to clear them. I REST OH !!! [/b]


We do have NVGs. The problem is that they aren't so much and most times, there are in storage due to some of the old -school officers that we still have (thank God, a few left) who believe that they should be used only during "special occasions" as if they were some form of christmas cloth. But like i said, things are changing, thanks to the new breed of post-military rule forward thinking and young officers. Our doctrine is also changing,due to the post 9-11 world we live in, and the niger-delta crisis due to the opponent we fight and the terrain we fight in.By the way, we may have had some flaws in sierre leone, but the country is currently peacefull due to the bravery and sacrifice of our men.That's why the british came to us,asking us to stay due to our experience, and the UN handing over operational control of the unit sent to replace ECOMOG after the former commander from india messed it up.

One more thing, if there is one flaw that the nigerian army,it's one thing-OVERKILL.it happened somalia, liberia, and sierre leone in the 90s. the only time i saw nigerian soldiers really scared was during the fall of freetown and the capture of lungi airport.

Finally,on the militant case in PH. i have to agree that they acted with impunity before JTF came.But these are the reasons:
- The military at 1st never wanted to be drawn into the problems in port harcourt but rather left it to the police.On a good day,that was the right thing to do.Besides, the whole niger-delta problem is a very sensitive issue.
- Even when they wanted to carry out actions on these cult groups, their hands were tied by the federal govt `cos they feared there was going to be a repeat Odi (remember OVERKILL?).
-the police command couldn't handled these militants because they where well armed with chinese AK-47s,RPG,GPMGs,etc.the closest thing the police has to grenades are flashbangs and CS canisters. and they are armed lightly (FN,K-2,beretta 9mm,ak-47). also, only mobile police squadron in rivers was stretched thin due to the fact that they had to protect other assets outside the capital, and units from other squadrons were rushed in.this gives the militants a slight edge as they know PH more than these new mobile police officers and men.Finally,corruption played its own part as some officers were in the payroll of these cultists

but finally, the military (JTF) got involved and they performed excellently, securing PH and killing these militants

"the egyptian, libyan and south african forces could be considered stronger than the nigerian army. stop with the generalizations "

If it comes to quantity of arms, and in some cases quality,these countries you've just mentioned are ahead of us,especially south africa. but with the exception of south africa,i do not have much respect for the rest.Reasons?The egyptians are basically being spoon fed by the americans who give them a large amount of what they use provided they do nothing against Isreal, and i still don't see much professionalism.the same goes for the libyans,who got their collective asses whooped by the chadians in the 80s.Unlike us (doubt that?The Germans in East Africa in world war one, the Japanese in burma- WW2,NPLF in liberia, RUF in sudan, and currently the militants in the Niger-delta).They also don't wield as much influence on the world stage as we do to three things:

-our robust foreign policy
- our economy (2nd largest in africa)
-our oil

If i may also add, they've not even done so much as we have when it comes to peacekeeping/enforcement/protection of other african countries sovereignity as we Nigerians have.Even Ghana has done a far better job than them.

Now,i'm not saying that we're the best.God knows we have a lot of flaws, thanks due to corruption and the past military rule. But we've been trying to fix these flaws.I can proudly say that our military boasts of very many intelligent officers and men trained not only in the country,but also in prestigious military academy in the US,UK,FRANCE, INDIA,PAKISTAN,ISREAL ,CANADA were they tend to excel.Today, unlike most african countries, our fire power has improved.Due to the conflicts in the niger-delta, and the dangerous world we currently live in,we've also had to change our doctrine in the way we fight, embracing trainings such as counter insurgency (COIN), better ways of intelligence gathering (ELINT and HUMINT), hostage rescue, command and control ,etc.Our national war college also happens to be one of the best in africa,with officers from other african,and even european countries attending it.

Anyway, we still have a lot to fix in the military, especially the airforce.As you know, air power plays a major role in modern conflict.

6- Apart from a very few countries in africa (South Africa,Libya,Egypt), the Nigerian navy operates operated a hi-tech system of unmanned arieal and armed surface (maritime) vehicles (UAVs) supplied by Elbit of Israel and is currently operational in the niger-delta theatre.

7-I accept the fact that most of our combat aircrafts are grounded, thanks to corruption.But most people don't know these:
a-we just bought some F-7NG fighter aircrafts which is a modern chinese version of the Mig 21 with sophisticted avionics suit. At the same time, the Mig 21 has been slated for repairs and upgrade
b-the upgrade of our c-130 fleet is already up and running (one aircraft has already been returned),and i believe that of the G-333 aircraft has already been completed.
c-the B0-105 helicopters are to be withrawn from service. The same goes for the Jaguar. Vintage aircrafts like the mig-17 are in storage. However, i hope that they begine the repairs of our fleet of PUMA helicopters as they are really important troop carriers. The same goes for our alpha-jets
d- orders for a squadron of A-109 helicopters and 2 ATR maritime planes have been placed.

8- the nigerian navy had already begun the repairs of our frigrates,and corvettes at the naval dockyard.thanks to the civilain and naval engineers, we've begun to patrol the gulf of guinea again.

So to everyone who has a grudge against our men and women in the military,you may not like them,but you will respect them.

It's really sad that almost everyone looks down on the men and women that serve in our country's military,so i typed down a few points that i think everone should know:

1- Nigeria (unlike most african countries) produces 20%-if not more- of her weapons. That means that all firearms used by the army,navy,airforce,police and customs (except the state security service) is produced in nigeria. These include the FN-FAL,berreta 9mm,browning hi-power,GPMG,grenades,mortars,etc.

2- We have an armoured personnel carrier assembly plants run by Styer and located in bauchi. Currently, the plant is responsible for the repairs and upgrade of our FV101 scorpion tanks used for recon. ops.

3-All bulldog trainer aircraft used for airforce pilot basic training is assembled in nigeria. And we still have an aircraft assembly plant run by Dornier in Kaduna.

4-Our country's military is not just the sole power in west africa, but the mainstabilising force here and in Africa as a whole. And that is a fact.

5-For incompetent soldiers/sailors/airmen that most of you paint them to be, they've performed exceptionally well in battle. For example:
a-We crushed Charles Taylors NPLF rebel force and brought back peace to Liberia.
b-Just before the fall of Free-town during the war in Sierre-Leone, a unit of Nigerian soldiers were responsible for the protection of a hotel used by the Americans to evacuate all foreign natioanls within the country.And although they faced an enemy numerically superior to them with no hope of any reinforcement as all other units were busy fighting to defend the capital, they held out until everyone was safely evacuated,thanks to their superior fire discipline,training,and of course our Nigerian alpha jet pilots that flew combat air support that day.Sadly most part of Freetown fell at the end.But the tactics used to recapture the capital is studied in West Piont.
c-In Ivory Coast, the Nigerian airforce was responsible for the evacuation of some Nigerian students trapped while on a field trip to the country when the crisis there escalated.
d-Our airforce pilots carried covert operations flying weapons and supplies into Zimbabwe in support of the ZANU-PF in the 1970s.
e-Back home in the Niger-Delta before the cult war in sept. 2007 btw the Joint Task Force (JTF) and the cult groups (de-bam,de-well,etc), the federal govt chose not to use the military because they,along with the top military and intelligence agencies chiefs believed that the crisis could be solved through dialogue. Besides,everyone was scared of another Odi. So the military was restricted to protecting the water ways,govt oilfield assets and personnel and anti-bunkering ops. However when they were drawn into the fight in PH,due to the police's inability to curb the activities of the cultists/militants, the military performed very well,and they had the support of everyone living in PH. They engaged these cultists in densely poplulated areas,killing a large number of them and destroying hideouts (thanks to members of the state security service and military intelligence units that infiltrated the various groups), and restoring peace and security to port harcourt. But the arm of the JTF that really impressed me was the airforce. They used the Mi-35 Hind gunship in densely populated areas with no precision weapons you find in hi-tech military forces in the world but still inflicated maximum damage on the cultists with little or no damage to public property,and no innocent civilian was killed in any of the airstrikes.This is a testament to the training and discipline of these pilots and those soldiers/policemen that played the roles of combat air controllers. However we still have problems hunting them down in the creeks, due to lack of more heliopters and gunboats. but that may soon change as the govt has already placed an order for a squadron (11-16 units) of augusta-109 combat helicopters for the airforce and 2 ATR 42 MP maritime patrol aircraft also for the airforce.