He added that the successes recorded against terrorists were made possible with recently acquired platforms, noting that they had impact on the Nigerian Air Force’s ability on the battlefield.
The Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF Air Commodore, Edward Gabkwet, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.
Amao was quoted to have said this while on operational tour of 205 Combat Search and Rescue Group, Kerang, Plateau State, and 22 Quick Response Wing, Lafia in Nasarawa State on Thursday.
The statement partly read, “There was no doubt that some of the new platforms in NAF’s Order of Battle, particularly the JF-17 Thunder aircraft, the A-29 Super Tucano aircraft and the Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles have been one of the many reasons we are winning the war against terrorism in the country.”
he noted more was still needed to be done to completely decimate and flush out the remnants of terrorists still preying on soft targets. He also warned that being complacent at this point would be harmful to ongoing operations, and called for extra focus, vigilance and caution.
Amao also informed the officials that the NAF was expecting the delivery of additional new platforms which the President had approved.
“These platforms include two CASA-295 medium airlift aircraft, two Beechcraft King Air 360, four Diamond DA-62 surveillance aircraft, three Wing Loong II UCAVs and six T-129 ATAK helicopters. Other ongoing acquisitions include two Agusta 109 Trekker multi-role helicopters, 12 AH-1Z attack helicopters and 24 M-346 attack aircraft to boost NAF’s air power employment and projection capabilities as well as air combat training. A few of these additional platforms are expected to be delivered to NAF before the end of first quarter 2023,” the statement added.
