NAF’s Helicopter, Jet Strike Bandits in Zamfara Forest

Video: NAF’s Helicopter, Jet Strike Bandits in Zamfara Forest

Video link: https://youtu.be/HYb81VHAVBU

The Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation DIRAN MIKIYA has intensified the bombardment of armed bandits’ hideouts in Zamfara State and environs. The air strikes were preceded by days of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, initiated based on credible Human Intelligence reports, which led to the identification of several camps being used by the bandits to launch attacks against innocent civilians.

One of the air interdiction missions was conducted at dawn on 7 February 2019, at a location in Rugu Forest South of Gurbin Baure, where some armed bandits were seen assembled by a logistics truck parked near their compound-hideout. The ATF dispatched a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) attack helicopter and an Alpha Jet to engage the bandits’ truck and compound.

Overhead the target area, the bandits were seen dispersing in different directions with some attempting to make a getaway in the truck. The helicopter strafed the moving truck in successive passes immobilizing it and neutralizing its occupants. The Alpha Jet simultaneously attacked the compound and destroyed one of the huts harbouring the bandits, which was seen engulfed in flames. Credible Intelligence sources later revealed that several bandits were killed as a result of the attack.

The NAF, working in close coordination with surface forces and other security agencies, will sustain its reconnaissance and air interdiction missions to neutralize the armed bandits and deny them freedom of action in the area.

IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA
Air Commodore
Director of Public Relations and Information
Nigerian Air Force

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NAF Pilots Commence Simulated Training in Azerbaijan

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has led a delegation of senior Nigerian Air Force (NAF) officers on a visit to Azerbaijan to seek strategic partnership in capacity building and development of Nigeria’s military industrial complex with a view to further boosting NAF’s operational effectiveness in the fight against insurgency and other forms of criminality in the country.

The visit, which took place from 5 – 8 February 2019, was on the invitation of the Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Defence and Commander of the Azerbaijan Air Force (AzAF), Lieutenant General Ramiz Tahirov, who, along with other senior officers from AzAF, hosted the CAS and conducted him on a tour of facilities at the Gala Air Base and the Aviation Repair Factory located in Nasosna Air Base, where the AzAF carries out up to 4th Line Maintenance of aircraft in its inventory.

One of the immediate benefits of the visit is the acceptance by the AzAF to provide simulator training slots for NAF pilots on the Mi-35M Helicopter and L-39ZA aircraft. The first set of NAF pilots are expected to commence their simulator training before the end of February 2019.

The CAS was accompanied on the visit by the Air Officer Commanding Mobility Command, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Peter Uzezi, Chief of Logistics Headquarters NAF, AVM Aminu Yakubu, the Chief of Staff Air Training Command, Ayoola Jolasinmi, the Deputy Director of Training HQ NAF, Air Commodore Esen Efanga as well as Nigeria’s Defence Adviser to Islamabad, Brigadier General Nasiru Mukhtar.

IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA
Air Commodore
Director of Public Relations and Information
Nigerian Air Force