The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has been plagued by aircraft and pilot losses with the latest being on 14 July 2023 near Makurdi.
The accident occurred on 14 Jul 2023, near the Air Force base of Makurdi. A FT-7NI trainer aircraft, which was reportedly on a routine training sortie crashed in some agricultural fields close to the town.
Over the years, many different types of fighter and other aircraft have been
inducted in the NAF. Among these the F7-NI fighter aircrafts from China were inducted in 2009. By 2018, six out of the 15 aircraft had crashed due to various reasons.
The remaining nine aircraft were also unserviceable, out of which five were sent to China for heavy maintenance and upgrades, which were received back in 2022.
The China-Pakistan joint venture, JF-17 aircraft, three of which have been bought by NAF from Pakistan in 2021, are also having maintenance issues.
Ironically, China, which is credited with the design of the aircraft, has not inducted a single JF17 aircraft in its own Air Force till date.
However, Pakistan has managed to sell these aircraft to Myanmar and Nigeria which has resulted in a nightmare for maintenance of these with numerous recurring technical glitches in the aircraft.
Myanmar has even gone to the extent of grounding its entire JF-17 fleet after loss of pilots in crashes.
In addition, observations have also been raised that the engines supplied in these aircraft are either repaired ones or have been used prior to supply.
Informed citizens and social media user have been commenting on these
purchases since their induction in 2018 and 2022 and have been raising issues
regarding the poor quality and loss of our brave pilots.
Social media users from Nigeria have also said “When nations like Egypt, South Africa and Ethiopia go to France, America, Germany, Israel and Russia to buy sophisticated fighter jets, Nigeria can only go to Pakistan to buy second-hand jets whose reliability cannot be guaranteed or which cannot stand against the ones manufactured by countries mentioned above”.
With better options available in the world market, it is high time to explore the
international market for better suited and reliable fighter aircraft which have been built after rigorous trials and are in service with modern Air Forces.
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We also need to ensure that over time, we develop our defence industries here in Nigeria and manufacture all these modern platforms indigenously.
This will also lead to better morale of the Armed Forces as well as enhance national security by spending money on better quality equipment.
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