Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Hassan Abubakar says the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) will soon receive 18 attack helicopters to augment its fleet of aircraft.
Abubakar said this during a day-long tour of NAF 115 Special Operations Group (SOG) formations and units in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
He said the United States would provide 12 attack helicopters, while the Turkish government would provide another six helicopters in September.
“We are not discouraged by recent events, as the federal government has approved the acquisition of 12 AH1 Zulu Cobra helicopters and six T129 helicopters from the United States and Turkey, respectively.
“The first two T129 helicopters are scheduled to become operational in September to enhance our operational capabilities.
“So yes, we are saddened by the recent loss of our aircraft (MI 171 helicopter), but we have many more (aircraft) arriving and our capabilities are increasing,” he said.
Abubakar said he visited the state to commiserate with the families of the NAF pilots and crew who died in the unfortunate helicopter crash in Niger on August 14.
“So, we came here to express our deepest condolences to the immediate families of the crew we lost.
“The 115 special operations group is the base of the plane and all the crew that was on board the unfortunate accident of our MI-171 helicopter.
“Apart from this, we are also here to interact with the officers and men of the unit to encourage them and assure them of our support in Operation Delta Safe,” he added.
The Air Force chief said the crew who died aboard the crashed plane included the pilot, co-pilot and two airmen, who were supervising the cockpit.
He said the Air Force was implementing measures to end military aircraft crashes in the country.
According to him, the measures include the creation of an air accident investigation board to detect the probable causes of the accident and mitigate its future repetition.
“NAF has zero accidents as its goal of innovation, but the truth is that as long as we continue to operate, there will be incidents because it is human beings who operate the aircraft.
“We have also established and strengthened our NAF Security Institute, where we train our pilots and technicians in the fundamentals of security to improve the culture of security in the Air Force.
“The overall goal is that, in the nearest future, we have a well-entrenched safety culture in realizing our goal of zero accidents and incidents at NAF,” he said.
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Abubakar said the air force would continue to step up the deployment of its attack helicopters to clamp down on illegal refineries in the Niger Delta.
He said joint operations with sister security agencies had led to the destruction of several illegal refining sites and the confiscation of vessels used to steal crude oil from the region.
(YAYA)
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