As part of the activities marking the 47th anniversary of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar spoke in Abuja on the Air Forces assistance to civil authority, the reactivation of aircraft in the inventory of the Service and the way forward for the Air Force. Abuja Deputy Bureau Chief, MADU ONUORAH was there.NAF assistance to civil authorityIN celebration of 47th anniversary of the Nigerian Air Force, we have decided to make it low key for many reasons mainly because this is a period when the nation is completely engrossed in the elections to usher in a new republic. And it will be inappropriate for us to organise an elaborate celebration, more so when most of our platforms are currently involved in moving electoral materials to various locations in the country to assist INEC in carrying out the duty of elections. We also had to deploy a number of our personnel to assist in the maintenance of security in the country.On the issue of assistance to INEC, I can assure you, at one time, almost all our airlift assets were deployed for this operation. We deployed a minimum of five six-wings aircraft at any one time and about eight helicopters to support INEC. That we did 24/7 within the period of the elections. We have been involved in moving electoral materials for INEC. We only worked for INEC and nobody else. We carried electoral materials for INEC for the 2011 elections. We did that across the length and breadth of the country.On the deployment of air asset for internal security operations, we are already deployed in the Niger Delta because of the situation in the region. The Mi-35s have very visible and very active role to curb the menace of militants in the Niger Delta area. But recently we had to deploy to Maiduguri and to Jos. Very recently, we had to also deploy to Kaduna. As Im talking to you, we have air assets in Kaduna. We have helicopters also carrying out similar roles of internal security operations in Kaduna. We are deployed across the country, Niger Delta, in the North East and very recently in North Central, the Plateau and Kaduna. It is not only air assets that we have deployed; our men are also on ground, carrying out similar operations alongside the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Navy and The Police. We are also assisting the Police and Army on the ground in patrolling many troubled areas.The names of the six-wings aircrafts for the INEC operationsWe had the C-130, the G-222, Dornier 228 and the ATR 42 aircraft. For the helicopters, we had the Mi-35s, the Mi-34s and also the Agusta 109E. They were all deployed during this election exercise.Reactivation of platforms, how the AETSL has been of helpI will like to say that the Aeronautical Engineering and Technical Services Limited (AETSL) has come a long way in supporting NAF in the re-activation effort. We are using that company to be the linchpin of our re-activation effort. Currently, we have the C-130 aircraft. The (number) 917 that has just been reactivated. The numbers 912 and 918 will soon depart for Cambridge for re-activation. So, we have three C-130s that we hope will come in fully into service. One has been re-activated and two on the way.On the Alpha jets, we are expecting that at least, four Alpha Jets will fly during the inauguration ceremony on the 29th. But all in all, we expect that 11 Alpha Jets will be ready after the activation exercise. There are also four Super Puma helicopters that we hope will be back in service before the end of this year. These Super Pumas are with EuroCopters in France. We hope that we will be receiving those aircrafts before the end of this year.The Aeronautical Engineering and Technical Services Limited are the linchpin. They are our representatives so to say, in this project of reactivation. We also hope to reactivate six L39 aircrafts in Kano. The job is already in progress. That job is also being handled by Aeronautical Engineering Services along with International Jets from the US. They have started work in Kano and you are free at any time to go to Kano or Kainji to see where the reactivation efforts are going on for you to see for yourselves the progress of work.Most of our aircrafts that we intend to reactivate, we intend to do them in-country. There are some, like the C-130 and the Super Pumas that we will not be able to handle in-country because of lack of equipment. But others like the L39, the Alpha Jets and so on, we intend to carry out the reactivation exercise in-country.Another thing we are doing is repair of the runway in Kainji. I think it should have opened this week after which we intend to provide lighting for the runway so that it will be a 24 hours operation on the Kainji runway. That is also in the pipeline. We want to first of all, finish the repair of the runway and the servicing of part of the taxi and runway of the airfield. After that, well go into the construction of the lighting system on the runway.And the Helicopter International School is going to be based in Enugu. The Mi-35 helicopters in Port Harcourt are daily training within the coastal area of our country. The MPA (Maritime Patrol Aircraft), the ATR 42 is in the air most of the time, where you will not see them, right inside the sea. They fly more than eight hours, covering the EEZ, and most of their flying are training exercises.I think we have been able to improve our aircraft holdings with the arrival of so many of our aircrafts that have been hitherto abroad for maintenance like the C-130 Transport Hercules, Mi-35 helicopters, the ATR 42 aircrafts that have been on maintenance. Most of them are back in the country flying. I want to also inform you that the Nigerian Air Force will be in the air at the inauguration of the newly elected President on May 29th. As we did during the 50th independence anniversary, we hope, by the grace of God, to re-introduce our Alpha Jets that had been hitherto grounded for more than four years. We hope that the aircraft will be part of the air display on May 29.Establishment of new Air Force Mobility Command in YenagoaYes, we have re-established the deactivated Military Airlift Command, which we have now re-designated as Mobility Command, with headquarters in Yenagoa. It was deactivated because of our dwindling fortunes in the 1990s. As we know, due to military incursion into governance, we could not support our various services and Air Force platforms had to be grounded. Because of the grounding of those platforms, it became completely unnecessary for us to maintain the structures that we had; four commands, without aircrafts. So, we decided to merge the assets of Military Elite Command with Tactical Air Command. Thank God for democracy. Now that we are in democracy, the dividend that we gained was the increase in our aircraft holding, particularly, airlift holding. We found it necessary for us to reactivate that command. We decided to move it to Yenogoa because first of all, the strategic importance of that part of the country in terms of our economic gain, oil, demand that we have military presence in that place.Current sustainability of the Nigerian Air ForceOn most of our aircrafts that are operational, we have more than 60 per cent sustainability on most. There are some that are below 30 percent, mainly because of lack of spares. As I said, we are awaiting the receipt of some of the spares from abroad, which will take time. Sometimes, we even need end user certificate to be able to get such spares. On most of our platforms, we have 60 per cent sustainability at the moment. Some need to improve seriously. That is as I said, mainly because of lack of spares.Training outside their bases by unitsThe reason we had to undertake training exercises outside the operational base of our aircraft is to check the operational readiness of the aircrafts and of course, our air crew. Our air crew should be able to fly anywhere not only within the country but particularly within the country. So, the first thing was for us to check the operational readiness of that crew and ensure That the unit should be able to move from its base or from any other base within the country. We have been able to achieve that by flying in Kano and moving to Ilorin to continue with the exercise. The one in Kano exercised the unit within the Northern geographical area of the country. And the one in Ilorin exercised the unit to operate within the Southern part of the country. We flew even across our borders, which is unknown to you, to tell our neighbours that we are around and we know what is happening within our borders. These are some of the exercises that we carried out that we can tell you now. We also had to fly across the borders to ensure that we let our neighbours know that our aircrafts are in the air and they are available to defend the airspace of the country. Journey so far as the 17th Chief of Air StaffI would say so far so good. We have come a long way in actualising our vision, which is to position the Nigerian Air Force for sustained employment of air power to meet joint national defence imperatives as well as provide swift response to communities for emergencies and internal security challenges. As you can see, the second part of our vision is already in force. As Im talking, we are already involved in so many internal security challenges.You are also aware that we have re-established the deactivated Military Airlift Command, which we have now re-designated as Mobility Command, with headquarters in Yenagoa. We have also unbundled the NAF Foundation. We have re-constituted that outfit. It is now NAF Holdings Limited with about four subsidiaries - the Aeronautical Engineering Technical Services Limited (AETSL), the Nigerian Air Force Properties Limited, Nigerian Air Force Investment Company and most importantly, the Nigerian Air Force Post Housing Development Company, which will be providing housing facilities for officers to retire into. Also, we have tried within the period, to build both residential and office accommodations for our officers. You must have seen work going on a new block within the headquarters. That we are doing to ameliorate the problems of offices for officers and personnel here at the headquarters.We are doing similar construction of offices in various units within the Air Force as well as new residential accommodation for our personnel. We are also looking at the renovation of many other offices and residential accommodation for our personnel. We have also purchased a lot of utility vehiclesbuses, pick-ups and so on, to reduce the problem of transportation and utility of personnel and of course, staff cars for most senior officers, commanders and principal officers. We have generally improved the professional readiness and welfare of our personnel.ChallengesAs you know, sustainability still remains a very big challenge because of lack of spares. We have to order spares from abroad. We do not have the capability to manufacture all our spare parts in-country. So, most of our spare parts still come from abroad. That is a challenge because you have to order, wait for them to come and you have to pay for them. Also you know we had quite a number of incidences and accidents which of course, due to the increased flying activity of the NAF. The more you fly, the more it is probable for you to have such incidences. Having said that, I will like to most sincerely, thank Nigerians, particularly the Federal Government for the tremendous support we have been receiving, without which we would have not been able to achieve all what I have just enumerated.
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