Nigeria Purchases 21 Fighter Aircraft, Receives Four Super Mushak Trainer From Pakistan

Nigeria has taken delivery of four Super Mushshak trainer aircraft following the approval by President Muhammadu Buhari to procure 21 aircraft from Pakistan to boost operations of the air force against Boko Haram militants.

The 21 war planes approved for procurement by the Buhari administration are four helicopters gunships, four medium airlift utility helicopters, three live attack aircraft and ten primary trainers. The deliveries are expected by the first quarter of next year, Vanguard reported Tuesday.

The four Super Mushshak aircraft are modernized for modern warfare, which arrived ahead of ten others that the Nigerian government asked the Asian country to manufacture and subsequently sell to it for use in the ongoing counter insurgency operations in the North East.

The four war aircraft donated to Nigeria are meant to train Nigerian Air force pilots on how to operate the war planes expected for delivery by the first quarter of 2017.

Besides donation of the four aircraft, the government of Pakistan also deployed pilots, engineers and other maintenance crews to guide the Nigerian users pending delivery of the others purchased.

The aircraft which were supplied to the Nigerian Air Force by the Pakistani Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, were in fulfillment of agreements reached by the two countries when Nigeria placed order for the ten expected war planes.

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sadiq Abubakar said, “The Nigerian Air Force has made tremendous improvement in terms of reactivation, training and enhancement of the welfare of its personnel.”

In the area of platform reactivation, the Nigerian Air Force has restored 15 air planes and helicopters into flying status in the last 17 months. Efforts are also at advanced stage to reactivate four additional air planes that will be deployed very soon for operations.