komekn:


One of the first to things I noticed about our forward bases is that we are still in this millennium shockingly, "Digging Trenches" that is so outdated. The next you notice we have no "Elevation"

So you see the enemy when he is almost on top of you.

A 50 cal. Rifle will still need elevation to have the advantage.

Could you provide us with any literature to prove trenches are outdated or you could simply explain why it won't work against ISWAP or BH. When you are fighting a very mobile enemy that relies a lot on vehicles to attack, taking away their mobility will be an important part of your defense planning and ditches work perfectly. There is no way any of the enemy's guntrucks will cross a 0.5m ditch.
In the flatlands that the northeast is, elevation isn't much of an advantage when you can see kilometers away while on level ground. Both sides will see each other several minutes before they can engage each other. Except of course the highlands near the mandara mountains.
Also, as long as you have a clear line of sight and your aim is true, you will hit your targets conveniently.

This is not even a matter of top military commanders not caring about the lives of soldiers and not providing them with weapons, common sense should have informed anyone posted to such bases that it is a death trap. Whoever is in charge of such bases could get some thick metal sheets to serve as drawbridges for crossing at any point needed and complete the ditch after.
If the new armored vehicles are sent to the bases as they currently are, don't be shocked if ISWAP starts featuring them in their propaganda videos by next year.


SamuelAnyawu, JOSCOFELIX any other person that knows anyone currently operating in the northeast, please talk to them concerning this.

shadowprimezero:


This is exactly what happened during one of the most devastating defeats NA faced in the 10 years war.

Bro, please modify the post to delete everything I mentioned, we can continue discussing the topic but we shouldn't be the ones pointing out weak points to enemies, I know it's open source knowledge but then some of these enemies aren't that sharp and we will only be helping them by pointing out the weaknesses.

And maybe rather than having one exit and entry, they should consider completing the ditch and having platforms that can be placed anywhere across the ditch whenever there is need for it.

Odunayaw:
I'm usually perplexed when I see somebody saying "so so number of guntrucks and so so number of mraps/tanks to protect base".

Gun nest emplacements in overlapping arcs of fire, mortar pits (even if it were one) and elevated posts are more productive than all these guntrucks talks

Boss, concrete pillboxes spaced out 500m from one another, ditches in front and barbed wires along the line of the pillboxes. Then towers for sniping. The pillboxes should be provided with 12mm machine guns and 23mm anti-material riffles. Then mltar puts within the perimeter of the base. The base should also be provided with 2-3m hesco perimeter fencing to ensure that firing from outside will be meaningless.

Local government's allocations can sponsor the construction of this pillboxes while state and federal government focus on other things.
If they are serious, they will have very strong defenses in less than a week. The materials are readily available where they are needed.

JOSCOFELIX:
remember metele

It was lack of experience that caused that, troops in any base protected by barbed wires should know that wheeled vehicles will not pass through, it would even be very dangerous for a tracked vehicle trying to manouver or get away to walk into barbed wires.

Ordinary barbed wires and machine gun nest will significantly blunt the terrorists attacks.

komekn:


I knew it had to be you.

You seem to have forgotten to make reference to the international task force that has been operating in Gulf of Guinea.

We are talking European, American and even Russian naval vessels all coming by together to fight piracy.

Or did your not know

Boss calm down, foreign military vessels only started arriving few months ago, data shows that pirate attacks has been reducing in the Nigerian EEZ after the deployment of the Falcon eye systems compared to other parts of the gulf of Guinea.

SamuelAnyawu:
I repeat. The Nigeria Army should begin its massive operation.

This is November in the Northeast. Massive operation, Intelligence and support from NAF.

My Organisation don pull out staff abandon me here

It is far better that they take all the time in the world to prepare for their offensive than to rush things and end up with same results as previous years or even worse, in fact if it will help to suspend this season's offensive to allow for the delivery of platforms they've purchased and to further strengthen their offensive, they should.

JOSCOFELIX:
Iswap new commander appoint last week is dead . He died yesterday from airstrike from the Naf. Iswap sf Commander is dead cheif judge of iswap is dead and over 10new iswap Commander is dead. I have been in brono since last week that is why I am not too frequent. The brigade general is not dead but wounded seriously I have full Intel . Iswap is launching a revenge attack on military formation. Military should reinforce they defence perimeter. I propose to make drone for the military (already working on the drone) for surveillance. Thanks they did not overrun any formation.modified the Commander is dead. Major general my friend is dead may Allah give eternal peace

Nigerian army already released a statement confirming the death of Brigadier General Dzarma Zirkusu.

Surveillance drones will help in early detection of terrorist and for situational awareness, it will not stop the terrorist from overrunning military bases, only stronger fortifications and base defenses will.
An earlier article posted on this forum on the attack on Askira uba quoting a CJTF personnel asking for help because the base only had 9 guntrucks as against the terrorist 16 guntrucks showed the army is still not fully committed to this war. Troops behind heavy concrete structures, ditches and barriers armed with anti-material riffles, mortars, recoiless riffles and even grenade launchers with mines and claymores to prevent attacks from their flanks and rear can comfortably take out most of the enemies guntrucks. But they just leave troops on open fields with only ditches as defense and very few guntrucks/armored vehicles and expect the troops not to be quickly swarmed from multiple directions.

Recently learnt from Beegeagles that when Gwoza town fell, the battalion protecting it had only one panhard VBL and an Otokar cobra APC to defend the whole town, nothing else apart from the small arms with the troops. And we expect better results.

youghs:
I stumbled on this Nigerian tech/defense company.
I'm surprised the company is unknown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH9XJ6F1s1E

Small players in the market should meet with the big players like proforce and Innoson to organize defense expo, to increase collaborations with other players in the market to improve products and to also help link some of these startups with their target customers.

The primary local defense partner of the military will definitely be proforce and as such the military will prefer to buy whatever UAV proforce has to offer than what these startups are offering but the startups can partner with the likes of proforce or sell their systems and subsystems to proforce to incorporate into Proforce's systems.
This is the only way many of them will survive and expand.
At the height of the mass school kidnappings, a startup came up with a UAV system that can map out CO2 emmisions and detect large gatherings of people in a large area based on their CO2 expiration. It would have been a very useful search and rescue tool for the military but then...... If they had probably met with proforce or INNOSON, they might have helped them reach the military.

In fact, the big players will also benefit from organizing defense expos, it will allow them meet with other defense companies in Africa and from there, they may start partnership and expanding their products and markets.

Saw tweets on how we lost several troops to yellow buckets in years past and was almost moved to tears. The widely known offensive led by Gen. Adeniyi in 2018 was blunted due to the destruction of two of the yellow buckets in his column, at the end of the day a whole Battalion and more perished. It was also reported that Adeniyi also made a lot of errors in the planning stage and during the ambush that led to more losses. Friendly fire from the airforce worsened the situation.

Checking footages from last season's offensive, the military no doubt learnt from that catastrophe, the airforce scouts ahead and clears threat where possible before the Army moves in for clearance, the army also deployed heavy armor like the VT4 tanks and ST1 AFVs with the assault team. One would, have expected the Army to have taken more deliveries of these platforms but they are still not doing so bad with deliveries.

Faithful007:
I love what you wrote till the final conclusion. But why is Nigeria one of the very few countries in the world buying more and more equipment, when there is almost no external aggression. Why do we keep on having insecurity issues? Why do people rise against the state? There is a big lesson to be learned from Afghanistan. The important lesson that if underlying issues that deepen disjoint between state and citizens continue without redress, no military equipment in this world will save that state from collapse.

Lack of proper education, radical ethnoreligious segregations, and rising poverty are very serious issues Nigeria underrates and has no serious mitigation plans against. Rather foreign governments are the ones pointing it out, but unfortunately, many do not know that it will (not could) eventually trigger a serious state collapse if nothing is done.

Have you wondered why first world progressive nations take climate change very seriously to the extent it sounds like it is overrated. It is simply because it will be the bedrock of future multifaceted problems and conflicts that could threaten human existence. Therefore those governments would struggle to fix a broken gas line at the bottom of the sea than wait for it to ignite at the surface. Sadly though, Nigeria prefers to do the latter and then channel all energy to quench a flame that never will.

Is Nigeria close to being a failed state? No.
Is Nigeria on track to becoming one? Hell, by all indications, yes.

Truth is that there is already a massive development deficit which accumulated over several decades that will take several years of efforts and seriousness to sort out while also suffering the consequences of the gaps left by the deficit which will also impact negatively on the efforts aimed at sorting out the deficit and further growth.

Stopping the proliferation of small and light arms should buy us some time to focus on economic development

And If there is any need for extra infantry either for clearance, to hold ground temporarily, or for any other reason, a well trained special unit could be quickly inserted into the field with transport helicopters.

Roan77:


I agree with you on this, we should never allow our troops go to operations with soft skin vehicles.

Troops on patrols and on offensive missions should never operate in soft skins. Having about 8 mechanized battalions in the north east with dedicated air platforms for air support will do massive damage to the enemy if used intelligently, for troops in defensive positions, mechanized platforms should belong to the bottom half of their scale of preference. If there is enough money, they could also be provided with armored vehicles for patrols around their AORs to take out enemies beyond the range of their defensive weapons (any enemy force beyond the range of most modern artilleries shouldn't even be a threat to any garrisoned settlement) without having to stress assault forces but that should be after they must have been provided with needed fortifications.


And any force the enemy can put up in any battlefield that will be beyond the power of any well armed, well equipped mechanized battalion should be easy pickings for artilleries and a well equipped airforce.

And if the enemy proves to be a bit tough, add in a tank or two. Beyond that? send a whole battalion of tanks. Anything beyond that, you are no longer fighting terrorists.

komekn:


Please don't speak from ASSUMPTIVE ignorance.

If you must make a proposition make it from a standpoint of knowledge and be substantive.

How much does one LC79 Toyota pick up cost or HiLux and or Ranger all upwards of $40k. What's the shelf life of these soft pick up trucks. After a fewengagements on the front , being punctured with AK47 rounds like a knife through butter. I have no statistics, but 6 months is probably the best. Imagine the money wasted on renewing these pick up by trucks every 6 months it thereabouts, they just get destroyed so easily.

So what you have is a penny wise pound FOOLISHNESS approach which personifies our. "Manage am like that" culture that pervades our society.

In this regard which would you rather be in , A refurbished Armoured platform that has far higher survivability rate, resilience against small arms fire, IED's, as well as being fit for purpose.

I could easily get 2/3 used but still very effective and capable armoured platform with real offensive capabilities for the cost of one LC79 soft skinned pick up truck . That destroys your poorly though out ASSUMPTIVE based proposition.

So we should ABSOLUTELY no excuse WHATSOEVER to allow our prized and valued combatants to be going in suicide soft skinned pick up trucks.

THERE IS NO EXCUSE.

Which part of "a few heavily armed mechanized Battalion in each state and more in hot zones to be used as assault force" is difficult for you to understand? Perhaps if I had substituted "mechanized"for "heavily armored" it would have been easier for you to comprehend. The bulk of the troops in the north east and other theaters of operations and the country at large are garrisoned and have more need for proper defensive structures than IFVs and other mechanized vehicles. It is exactly because we use most of the armored vehicles we have in defensive roles that we've lost many to enemy actions and attrition. We've lost more platforms to ISWAP attacks on military bases than on offensives.
If I am to be used to defend a town or any other settlement, I will prefer fortified structures such as pillboxes, redoubts, bunkers, towers, ditches, mine fields and weapons that can take out anything the enemy has to offer from a long range, grenade launchers, snipers, anti-material riffles etc than having only armored vehicles, of course a few armored vehicles will provide added advantage but heavily fortified settlements can make do without them and if I am to be used to attack the enemy, I will prefer being in armored platforms.
Now knowing that the vast majority of the personnels of the military will be used in defensive actions, of what economic advantage will the purchase of thousands of armored platforms be when many of the towns being defended lack basic defensive structures.

kabe1:


Fantastic state of the art system.

By making the Nigerian waters safe in the midst of the chaos that is the gulf of Guinea (it is expected that many of the pirates will be shifting operations to the other part of the gulf of Guinea), the completion of the lekki deep seaport, the construction of rail lines to Niger and Maiduguri(which should be extended to Chad in my opinion), Nigeria is set to become the port of choice for land locked countries in West and Central Africa. The only thing left is to lobby the international community, stakeholders in the maritime sectors and insurance companies to reduce the high cost of premium paid by ships and shipping companies sailing to or through the gulf of Guinea for ships heading to Nigerian ports to negate the zero duties policy of some of the other countries in the gulf of Guinea.

Sizzorkay:
yep. that's the thing, catch a few people, magnify the capabilities in the media, and that put the fear of god into those thinking of committing such offense.
where i live, the moment one person suggests doing something illegal, the other respond with "we might get caught ", even though they could commit the crime and get away with it.
same with making profit and not paying tax on it, people instantly get scared and pay it. it's all about having the apparatus and letting the people be aware of its effectiveness
they think twice.

A lot of agencies will even benefit a lot from it, from customs, immigration, NAFDAC, NDLEA, SON, the police, the military etc.

Whyem15:
Footage from falcon eye system

https://twitter.com/Jakepor21/status/1458423711560777738?t=IYEs4ZYkrkL2lVfZoZr2SQ&s=19



Only a matter of time before this is replicated on land too, it is a far cheaper than any sort of fence. The damages that the porosity of our borders has done is enormous.

Rather than buying thousands of IFVs, APCs and tanks and other vehicles that will not only be extremely expensive to purchase and maintain, force multipliers such as sensors like this, a few attack helicopters in each state, full artillery coverage across country, military satellites and other ISR equipment both manned and unmanned in reasonable quantities and tackling arms smuggling across borders with some of these systems will achieve a far better result with far lesser cost. All of the above doesn't make obsolete the capabilities that IFVs and other land systems offer but for a country heavily reliant on borrowing to finance its budget, it is a foolishness to get thousands of such systems at a time.

for now, a few heavily armed mechanized Battalion in each state and more in the hot zones is enough, they will be adequately provided with CAS whenever going on any mission and will only be used for offensive actions, other troops or law enforcement personnels can then move in to secure the ground or whatever else is needed.

Footage from falcon eye system

https://twitter.com/Jakepor21/status/1458423711560777738?t=IYEs4ZYkrkL2lVfZoZr2SQ&s=19



Only a matter of time before this is replicated on land too, it is a far cheaper than any sort of fence. The damages that the porosity of our borders has done is enormous.

Footage from falcon eye systems.

https://twitter.com/Jakepor21/status/1458423711560777738?t=IYEs4ZYkrkL2lVfZoZr2SQ&s=19

Yesterday, certain ISWAP elements attempted to ambush and hijack a supply column moving towards supercamp Ngamdu, fortunately, the military was already aware of the planned attack and quick reaction team was quickly mobilized, air support was also provided and the attack was quickly repelled and the terrorist chased. However, one conqueror MRAP had a minor accident and caught fire, it was eventually recovered.

Source: Zagazola


It is important that the military reinforce the destruction of military hardwares if ever they are going to be abandoned, there is need to continually make ISWAP attacks fruitless.

Odunayaw:
This pull-it-down-syndrome as expected

There are some people that just never see anything good with what anyone is doing, it's not as if they are bitter, it is just who they are, they consistently look for what to criticize in everything. Once you identify people like that, you won't really have any issue with them.

SuperSixSeven:


This is a mechanical operated poor mans RCWS, much like a periscope with a Gun attached. Not a real RCWS in common sense but the Gunner can operate the system protected from inside the vehicle. A electric operated RCWS starts from 150.000$, which is exceeds the costs of an armored 4x4 - sadly not an option for the NA at this point.

As basic as this system is, it is capable of changing a lot on the battlefield. I wish the NA can procure it in large quantities and fix on other platforms.

It was mentioned from the NAF documentary that some of the M346 aircrafts will be delivered this year, it's only about 50 days to the end of the year, I wonder if that the time frame is still feasible.

RiceProducers:


These systems are $180k at the very least. The vehicle on its own is just about $220k. I am not sure Nigeria would have gotten one RWS per vehicle. I acknowledge the advantages of RWS for laying cover fire from inside the vehicle during ambush and ability to work in a sniper infested battle field that pins down most manual gunners but I think RWS should be one per six vehicles

None of the APCs in that picture seems to have gun turrets and gunner shields on them, this points to the fact that there is no plan to have human gunners on them.
The weapon system in the video posted by shadowprimezero isn't exactly the conventional RCWS that cost the price you mentioned. While this particular one is still operated remotely from within the vehicle, it is still fully operated by man in all aspects. The cost cannot be up to that amount.

Na should also go for a large number of upamored guntrucks for use in low threat environments and to prolong the life span of these MRAPs and APCs.

I also hope they won't wait for these platforms to get destroyed or become non functional before they sign another deal, procurement doesn't have to be yearly, it could be every 3-5 years until all requirements are met. NA should aim very high so that at any time all requirements are catered for. They should go for large numbers in a way that they can keep the number of platforms operational constant while some are undergoing maintenance/repairs and others are being used for training.
It should not stop with protected mobility, it should be extended to tanks, IFVs, artilleries, engineering capabilities, communications, intelligence etc.

Toju200:
plus unknown numbers of the Ezugwu MRAPs

53 units of the Ezugwu were initially ordered. I do not know whether there was any subsequent orders.

kabe1:


Confirmed!!!

100 units of CS/VP3 have been delivered to the Nigerian army.

You know what makes this more interesting, many of these hardwares were paid for with the last defence budget, the one recently approved by the senate Wil bring provide the military with more menacing capabilities.

kabe1:
Nigerian army has so far received

- 60 units of Type-89

- 100 units of Dongfeng Mengshi 4 x 4

- 100 units of CS/VP3 ( not yet delivered)

- 60 units of Legion MRAP from the UAE

- An unknown number of PF Viper and ARA MRAPs

That's more than 320 units of armoured protected vehicles for the Nigerian army.

All vehicles purchased brand new.

I only hope they bought enough spares, support vehicles and trained enough personnels to be able to maintain them for a long period. The way we used the last set of Bigfoot MRAPs is quite shameful.

Also, I hope they won't fix these platforms with 12.7mm guns only. They should carry varying calibers and types of ammunitions. They should follow the lead of the Navy by fixing 40mm grenade launchers etc on some of these platforms.

kabe1:
Nigerian Army is the end user of 100 Dongfeng Mengshi 4x4 light armoured vehicles.