NAF will sustain local maintenance of aircrafts – CAS
Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has stated that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) will continue to undertake periodic depot maintenance of aircrafts in its fleet locally, in line with the federal government’s policy to solve the country’s challenges by looking inwards.
The air chief who was speaking during the commissioning and acceptance of the newly reactivated C-130H (NAF 913) aircraft on Wednesday, said the decision will save the nation huge foreign exchange and significantly, improve the human resource capacity and competence of NAF personnel.
Speaking at the event which held at the 613 Aircraft Maintenance Depot, Logistics Command, Ikeja, Lagos, Abubakar disclosed that the refurbishing of the C-130H (NAF913) was done in nine months by NAF technicians and engineers, supported by their counterparts from the Pakistan Air Force and the Shaheen Foundation.
“From the onset of this administration, we had determined that it is imperative that we develop sufficient local maintenance capacity and capability to enable us effectively project air power for current and future operations.
“One critical aspect of air power is strategic airlift capability. This important requirement of the Nigerian Air Force is essential to the deployment and sustenance of forces across distant battlefields.
“In this regard, judicious efforts were made to locally conduct periodic depot maintenance of three C-130H aircrafts; NAF 917, 913 and 918 so as to boost combat support efforts for armed forces’ operations across the country.
“Our modest accomplishments so far have greatly enhanced the serviceability of our aircraft fleets and boosted our capability to project air power within and beyond the shores of our dear country.
“It is worthy to mention that apart from this C-130H being commissioned today; we are equally, undertaking the local reactivation of three Alpha jets and one Mi-35P helicopter. It is also my belief that in a few months ahead, we will also be here to commission the third C-130H that is NAF 918.
“These local capacity enhancement efforts are in line with the Ffderal government policies and aspirations that encourage Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to look inwards and evolve innovative solutions to the myriad of challenges the nation is confronted with.
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“Accordingly, NAF will continue to pursue its capacity building initiatives through the conduct of local periodic depot maintenance of all aircraft types.
“This will undoubtedly enable the service to fulfil its primary responsibilities as provided in the constitution and to meet a broad range of national security imperatives,” the air chief reiterated.
