₦airaland Forum

Nigerian Air Force Pilots Undergoing Training On M-346FA Airplanes in Italy

Nigerian Air Force personnel are currently undergoing specialized training on the incoming M-346FA aircraft at the M-346 production facility in Venegono, Varese, Italy.

The training programme, which commenced on 13 July 2026, involves 13 personnel comprising four officers and nine airmen and airwomen. The trainees are receiving instruction in airframe systems, propulsion, and engine ground-run procedures to prepare them for the aircraft's induction into service.

Nigeria has placed the largest known order for the M-346FA (Fighter Attack) variant, with a total of 24 aircraft on order.

Source

If Peter goat eat Peter yam.. nobody go pay na

Nice one! That is the ideal thing to do. Let the manufacturer train them on the aircraft handling. May they do exploit with this machine

Training on antiquated systems at a time when the Russian/Ukraine, Iran/US wars have shown that drones are the future, is a monumentally stupid thing to be doing. There is nothing this aircraft will be doing that existing platforms in the Nigerian Airforce don't already do.
What the war on terrorism in Nigeria needs is cheap loitering systems, rapidly deployable, lethal on engagement and in vast numbers. FPV drones carrying explosives do that very well.

There is a reason why Russia can't advance in Ukraine and the US operates a thousand kilometres away from Iran. The Nigerian Airforce has refused to be dynamic and adaptive in its solutions when it proffers them.

Dogalmighty17:
Training on antiquated systems at a time when the Russian/Ukraine, Iran/US wars have shown that drones are the future, is a monumentally stupid thing to be doing. There is nothing this aircraft will be doing that existing platforms in the Nigerian Airforce don't already do.
What the war on terrorism in Nigeria needs is cheap loitering systems, rapidly deployable, lethal on engagement and in vast numbers. FPV drones carrying explosives do that very well.

There is a reason why Russia can't advance in Ukraine and the US operates a thousand kilometres away from Iran. The Nigerian Airforce has refused to be dynamic and adaptive in its solutions when it proffers them.

What a monumentally stupid and childish way to reason.

You don't SUDDENLY cease ALL training on all fighter jets simply because ''Russian/Ukraine, Iran/US wars have shown that drones are the future..''.

Heck, the training would have been included as part of the deal in negotiations that took place long BEFORE the US/Iran War started!


Antiquated?

''The Leonardo M-346FA (Fighter Attack) is a multi-role light combat aircraft and advanced jet trainer developed by Italian aerospace manufacturer Leonardo (originally Alenia Aermacchi).

Role: Close air support (CAS), air interdiction, tactical reconnaissance, and air policing.

• Engine: Powered by two Honeywell F124-GA-200 turbofan engines (delivering ~2,850 kg of thrust each).

• Hardpoints: 7 to 9 external hardpoints (including two wingtip rails for air-to-air missiles and an optional centerline cannon pod) with a total payload capacity of up to 3,000 kg.

• Radar & Avionics: Equipped with the Leonardo Grifo-346 pulse-doppler multimode radar, a Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS) with 360-degree missile approach warnings, and a NATO Link 16-compatible tactical datalink.

• Performance: Reaches transonic speeds up to Mach 0.95 / ~1,065 km/h at low altitude, with a service ceiling of 45,000 ft (13,715 m).

• Armament: Carries a variety of precision-guided and unguided munitions (such as Paveway, JDAM, Lizard, and Brimstone missiles), rocket launchers, and gun pods

Operators & Recent Procurement

• Nigeria: Ordered 24 units in a €1.2 billion deal, completing factory acceptance tests and taking delivery of initial jets.
• Austria: Procured 12 M-346FA jets under a ~€1.5 billion agreement to replace retired Saab 105 aircraft, scheduled for deployment around 2028.
• Other Users / Variants: Evolved from the base M-346 / T-346 trainer lineage operated by countries like Italy, Israel, Singapore, and Poland.''

- AI

Something that they should have given Benin people.

Nobody fit fly plane like Benin people.

all this one na say them wan jand, not for benefits of masses. this is of no consequence to us. u may be surprised how them bribe to be on list of those tp be trained

Dogalmighty. This is why it's not good to study at a MirakuruCenter.

See how you were schooled with facts ?..

Where's yellow pawpaw I asked for ? Operation VaselinaKY

Kushites:
What a monumentally stupid and childish way to reason.

You don't SUDDENLY cease ALL training on all fighter jets simply because ''Russian/Ukraine, Iran/US wars have shown that drones are the future..''.

Heck, the training would have been included as part of the deal in negotiations that took place long BEFORE the US/Iran War started!


Antiquated?

''The Leonardo M-346FA (Fighter Attack) is a multi-role light combat aircraft and advanced jet trainer developed by Italian aerospace manufacturer Leonardo (originally Alenia Aermacchi).

Role: Close air support (CAS), air interdiction, tactical reconnaissance, and air policing.

• Engine: Powered by two Honeywell F124-GA-200 turbofan engines (delivering ~2,850 kg of thrust each).

• Hardpoints: 7 to 9 external hardpoints (including two wingtip rails for air-to-air missiles and an optional centerline cannon pod) with a total payload capacity of up to 3,000 kg.

• Radar & Avionics: Equipped with the Leonardo Grifo-346 pulse-doppler multimode radar, a Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS) with 360-degree missile approach warnings, and a NATO Link 16-compatible tactical datalink.

• Performance: Reaches transonic speeds up to Mach 0.95 / ~1,065 km/h at low altitude, with a service ceiling of 45,000 ft (13,715 m).

• Armament: Carries a variety of precision-guided and unguided munitions (such as Paveway, JDAM, Lizard, and Brimstone missiles), rocket launchers, and gun pods

Operators & Recent Procurement

• Nigeria: Ordered 24 units in a €1.2 billion deal, completing factory acceptance tests and taking delivery of initial jets.
• Austria: Procured 12 M-346FA jets under a ~€1.5 billion agreement to replace retired Saab 105 aircraft, scheduled for deployment around 2028.
• Other Users / Variants: Evolved from the base M-346 / T-346 trainer lineage operated by countries like Italy, Israel, Singapore, and Poland.''

- AI

Racoon:
Nice one! That is the ideal thing to do. Let the manufacturer train them on the aircraft handling. May they do exploit with this machine

You’ll never catch your brother AMINDA in a thread like this! The only place he comes out of hiding is in the politics section.

Benin Airways
That one na follow come pilots

MrPresident1:
Something that they should have given Benin people.

Nobody fit fly plane like Benin people.

I believe this is a good experiment and I hope the next generation can learn from them.

The trainees must be among the finest and brightest in service. They look very sharp.

Kudos the NAF leadership.

Only if the Nigerian airforce is powerful enough to
This rubbish happening in the north would have ended
Just 5 attack jets and 5 attack helicopters would have done devastating damages on bokoharam

Absolutely fantastic! Such a great opportunity for the pilots to hone their skills!

Technical Writer

Dogalmighty17:
Training on antiquated systems at a time when the Russian/Ukraine, Iran/US wars have shown that drones are the future, is a monumentally stupid thing to be doing. There is nothing this aircraft will be doing that existing platforms in the Nigerian Airforce don't already do.
What the war on terrorism in Nigeria needs is cheap loitering systems, rapidly deployable, lethal on engagement and in vast numbers. FPV drones carrying explosives do that very well.

There is a reason why Russia can't advance in Ukraine and the US operates a thousand kilometres away from Iran. The Nigerian Airforce has refused to be dynamic and adaptive in its solutions when it proffers them.

The knowledge you have received from the guy who just educated you should be enough to last you a life time. That is ,if what eroded the follow come will not erode this too.

Personnel not necessarily pilots.

Kushites:
What a monumentally stupid and childish way to reason.

You don't SUDDENLY cease ALL training on all fighter jets simply because ''Russian/Ukraine, Iran/US wars have shown that drones are the future..''.

Heck, the training would have been included as part of the deal in negotiations that took place long BEFORE the US/Iran War started!


Antiquated?

''The Leonardo M-346FA (Fighter Attack) is a multi-role light combat aircraft and advanced jet trainer developed by Italian aerospace manufacturer Leonardo (originally Alenia Aermacchi).

Role: Close air support (CAS), air interdiction, tactical reconnaissance, and air policing.

• Engine: Powered by two Honeywell F124-GA-200 turbofan engines (delivering ~2,850 kg of thrust each).

• Hardpoints: 7 to 9 external hardpoints (including two wingtip rails for air-to-air missiles and an optional centerline cannon pod) with a total payload capacity of up to 3,000 kg.

• Radar & Avionics: Equipped with the Leonardo Grifo-346 pulse-doppler multimode radar, a Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS) with 360-degree missile approach warnings, and a NATO Link 16-compatible tactical datalink.

• Performance: Reaches transonic speeds up to Mach 0.95 / ~1,065 km/h at low altitude, with a service ceiling of 45,000 ft (13,715 m).

• Armament: Carries a variety of precision-guided and unguided munitions (such as Paveway, JDAM, Lizard, and Brimstone missiles), rocket launchers, and gun pods

Operators & Recent Procurement

• Nigeria: Ordered 24 units in a €1.2 billion deal, completing factory acceptance tests and taking delivery of initial jets.
• Austria: Procured 12 M-346FA jets under a ~€1.5 billion agreement to replace retired Saab 105 aircraft, scheduled for deployment around 2028.
• Other Users / Variants: Evolved from the base M-346 / T-346 trainer lineage operated by countries like Italy, Israel, Singapore, and Poland.''

- AI

Gbamsulotey oooooo mucheche oooooo hahaha kikikikikokk hahaha 😂

Dogalmighty17:
Training on antiquated systems at a time when the Russian/Ukraine, Iran/US wars have shown that drones are the future, is a monumentally stupid thing to be doing. There is nothing this aircraft will be doing that existing platforms in the Nigerian Airforce don't already do.
What the war on terrorism in Nigeria needs is cheap loitering systems, rapidly deployable, lethal on engagement and in vast numbers. FPV drones carrying explosives do that very well.

There is a reason why Russia can't advance in Ukraine and the US operates a thousand kilometres away from Iran. The Nigerian Airforce has refused to be dynamic and adaptive in its solutions when it proffers them.

Russia still uses jetfighters like the Sukhoi Su34 to bomb Ukraine , and Ukraine is using drones largely because it's airforce is too small to counteract Russia's larger airforce.

As for our war on terror, we need something like a better counter-terrorism measures...drones have the disadvantage of causing civillian casualites. That does not mean we should lessen our conventional capabilites.

Kushites:
What a monumentally stupid and childish way to reason.

You don't SUDDENLY cease ALL training on all fighter jets simply because ''Russian/Ukraine, Iran/US wars have shown that drones are the future..''.

Heck, the training would have been included as part of the deal in negotiations that took place long BEFORE the US/Iran War started!


Antiquated?

''The Leonardo M-346FA (Fighter Attack) is a multi-role light combat aircraft and advanced jet trainer developed by Italian aerospace manufacturer Leonardo (originally Alenia Aermacchi).

Role: Close air support (CAS), air interdiction, tactical reconnaissance, and air policing.

• Engine: Powered by two Honeywell F124-GA-200 turbofan engines (delivering ~2,850 kg of thrust each).

• Hardpoints: 7 to 9 external hardpoints (including two wingtip rails for air-to-air missiles and an optional centerline cannon pod) with a total payload capacity of up to 3,000 kg.

• Radar & Avionics: Equipped with the Leonardo Grifo-346 pulse-doppler multimode radar, a Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS) with 360-degree missile approach warnings, and a NATO Link 16-compatible tactical datalink.

• Performance: Reaches transonic speeds up to Mach 0.95 / ~1,065 km/h at low altitude, with a service ceiling of 45,000 ft (13,715 m).

• Armament: Carries a variety of precision-guided and unguided munitions (such as Paveway, JDAM, Lizard, and Brimstone missiles), rocket launchers, and gun pods

Operators & Recent Procurement

• Nigeria: Ordered 24 units in a €1.2 billion deal, completing factory acceptance tests and taking delivery of initial jets.
• Austria: Procured 12 M-346FA jets under a ~€1.5 billion agreement to replace retired Saab 105 aircraft, scheduled for deployment around 2028.
• Other Users / Variants: Evolved from the base M-346 / T-346 trainer lineage operated by countries like Italy, Israel, Singapore, and Poland.''

- AI

This AI currated slop you pushed here doesn't in any way address the fundamental issues I highlighted. There is nothing this aircraft does, that the JF-17 and F-7Ni don't currently do. The Airforce has been using this system for years and yet the war on terror appears to be heading nowhere. What is the point of doing the same thing and expecting a different approach? A new way of thinking and a different strategy has to be adopted.

We just lost our primary ISR platform ( ATR-42MP) a few weeks back. As much as deals like this are years in the making, these planes will be of limited utilisation without the availability of crucial intel needed to handle the fluidity of combat operations against insurgents.

The Leonardo M-346FA has an operating cost of around 8.5 million naira per flight hour or around 6000 dollars per hour. At a time when funding constraints are becoming an issue, we need to foster the adoption of low budget, more cost effective platforms, providing better dominance of the battle field or theatre of engagement.

Nigeria needs to take a leaf from south Korea. Recognising the significance drone technology has introduced to warfare, that country has begun plans to train as much as 500,000 of its armed forces in drone and counter drone warfare. The goal is every soldier will have a drone as a second weapon, while teams of twos can have as much as 50 weapon carrying FPV drones available at their command at any time in the front. They are doing this to counter North Korea should that theatre become hot. That is forward thinking in its purest form.

Advances in 5th generation IR missiles means fighter jets with stealth aren't entirely invisible in the battle field anymore. We saw the Iranians hit an F-35 with one and that's something no one thought would be possible. But stealth will always lag behind systems designed to counter it. And with the speed Chinese made systems are achieving near peer parity with Western equivalents, it is only going to be a matter of time.

The future of warfare belongs to only those who can provide the most amount of damage at the least possible cost. I wouldn't consider flying a Leonardo M-346 over a theatre of operation filled with MANPADS a wise decision. The heat those twin engines emit will light that plan up like a Christmas tree.

If the war on terror must end, a radical shift in how the enemy is engaged must be deployed.

Dogalmighty17:
There is a reason why Russia can't advance in Ukraine and the US operates a thousand kilometres away from Iran. The Nigerian Airforce has refused to be dynamic and adaptive in its solutions when it proffers them.

This bit of your comment sent me down the rabbit hole to a reddit answer from 2 years ago

Yes, this is the reality of near-peer warfare.

With both sides having robust ground-to-air defenses, neither can achieve the degree of air supremacy necessary for the quick, lopsided victories we've become used to seeing when the United States and its allies would rapidly cripple an inferior opponent.

Also, since both sides have a great deal of artillery and drone surveillance, it's difficult to mass large quantities of men and equipment close to the front in preparation for a large ground assault without risking them being wiped out in an artillery barrage. It can still be done (drone surveillance isn't everywhere, and diversions are a useful tactic), but it's risky.

Then you have the multitude of anti-tank weapons in Ukraine that have kept Russia from achieving deep armor pushes.

So basically, there's a lot of artillery, trench warfare, and surveillance, but less air/armor effectiveness, so it turns into a slow slog.

SAUCE

As for USA Not entering iran...the issue is terrain, the potential of prolonged assymetric warfare, and the economic costs. Not necessarily drones.

tobenuel:
If Peter goat eat Peter yam.. nobody go pay na

wetin be obi own here are dull are u? n also with all d money dey budget for security they can train nigeria abi?

It’s the ones dat are drinking stream water on the battle front that Nigeria bloggers will post

Dogalmighty17:
Training on antiquated systems at a time when the Russian/Ukraine, Iran/US wars have shown that drones are the future, is a monumentally stupid thing to be doing. There is nothing this aircraft will be doing that existing platforms in the Nigerian Airforce don't already do.
What the war on terrorism in Nigeria needs is cheap loitering systems, rapidly deployable, lethal on engagement and in vast numbers. FPV drones carrying explosives do that very well.

There is a reason why Russia can't advance in Ukraine and the US operates a thousand kilometres away from Iran. The Nigerian Airforce has refused to be dynamic and adaptive in its solutions when it proffers them.

Very narrow minded thinking 🤔! So because of drones fighter jets should be abandoned and you called a modern plane that you know nothing about antique. Your ignorance is alarming.

bmd1010:
wetin be obi own here are dull are u? n also with all d money dey budget for security they can train nigeria abi?

Where did he mention Obi? He said Peter!

This is commendable,but Nigeria must stop treating military aviation safety as an afterthought.

The recent crash in Ondo State should be a serious warning.What is the point of acquiring sophisticated aircraft if maintenance,operational discipline and safety protocols are not given the attention they deserve?

The military must never allow negligence, poor maintenance and avoidable human error to turn expensive aircraft into flying coffins.Our personnel's lives matter just as much as the missions they are sent to accomplish.

Dogalmighty17:
This AI currated slop you pushed here doesn't in any way address the fundamental issues I highlighted.

But you said the jets were antiquated. How can that be when Nigeria bought an upgraded version of that used by Italy, Israel, Poland, etc?

And Austria, a NATO country, has placed orders for the same jets, due in 2028.

A simple search online will tell you these are old antiques meant to be stored in a war museum, na these old planes they dey procure with billions, we just dey retrogress, who do us this thing.

dauntless15:
A simple search online will tell you these are old antiques meant to be stored in a war museum, na these old planes they dey procure with billions, we just dey retrogress, who do us this thing.

Bro to buy updated equipment Dey very cost oo even some countries no fit afford am

Finally after 13years as a nairalander my face finally show on nairaland, am among the personnel trained on the new fighter jet

AMINDA, Ofunaofu, no more BAD NEWS

What a very good opportunity to japa, they will regret not Japaing..


Soon AI will take over all their positions.

5000 UK office workers lost their jobs to AI just last week.

The UK now uses drones to mornitor and detect criminals from above

rossipki:
But you said the jets were antiquated. How can that be when Nigeria bought an upgraded version of that used by Italy, Israel, Poland, etc?

And Austria, a NATO country, has placed orders for the same jets, due in 2028.

These countries you mentioned have placed orders with a near peer adversary (Russia) in mind. Nigeria is not at war with a nation at the moment but we are fighting rag tag elements in the forests all over the north. Fighter jets won't give us the victory we need. We need cheap systems that can hover, loiter for a long time, strike the enemy all without the operator needing to step foot in that area of engagement. Such technologies already exist. We see the Ukrainians using them. We know that the Americans are afraid to put boots on the ground in Iran because of the threats such cheap techs pose to combat operations.