Nigeria Receives its First Batch of A-29 Super Tucano Aircraft

The Nigerian Air force (NAF) welcomed the first batch of A-29 Super Tucano Aircraft at Kano state on Thursday.

Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information confirmed the arrival of the fighter aircraft in a statement.

Former U.S. President, Donald Trump confirmed the sales of 12 fighter planes to Nigeria during a 2018 meeting with his Nigerian counterpart, Muhammadu Buhari.

The second batch of the A-29 Super Tucano is expected to arrive in the country before the end of the year.

The celebration of the arrival of the new aircraft is sobered by the recent loss of its Alpha jet to terrorists and the crash of a Beechcraft King350 aircraft to a mishap that claimed the lives of former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Attahiru and ten other senior officers.

The A-29 is a Brazilian turboprop light attack aircraft designed and built by Embraer as a development of the Embraer EMB 312 Tucano. The aircraft is capable of being equipped with precision-guided munitions, and was designed to be a low-cost system operated in low-threat environments.