Nigeria to acquire attack aircraft from US

In a vote of confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, the US is seeking to approve a sale of as many as 12 A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft to Nigeria to aid the fight against Boko Haram insurgents.

This is coming days after the insurgents attacked the military with anti-aircraft guns in Sambisa forest, a stronghold of the sect in Borno state.

According to Reuters, Washington is also dedicating more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to the anti-Boko Haram war.

Under former President Goodluck Jonathan, the US blocked arms sales to Nigeria because of human rights concerns.

Relationship between both countries also went sour, resulting to an abrupt end of a training which US organised for Nigerian military personnel.

But the situation has improved under the current administration. A US official told Reuters that his country’s military is currently training a Nigerian infantry battalion, and would train a second later this year.

“The Buhari administration I think has really reenergized the bilateral relationship in a fundamental way,” one US official said.

“Buhari made clear from the get-go that his number one priority was reforming the military to defeat Boko Haram … And he sees us as part of that solution,” a second US official said.

The sale is subject to review by Congress, which has not yet been formally notified.

The aircraft come with a “very basic armed configuration,” one of the US officials said.

The sale could offer Nigeria a more maneuverable aircraft that can stay aloft for extended periods to target Boko Haram formations.

The Tucanos can be used for training, surveillance or attack. They can be armed with two wing-mounted machine guns and can carry up to 1,550 Kg (3,417 pounds) of weapons.

One production line for the Super Tucano is in Florida, where it is built with U.S. firm Sierra Nevada Corp.

Thoigh officials did not disclose the cost of the planes to be sold to Nigeria, a contract for 20 similar aircraft sold to Afghanistan was valued at about $428 million at the time it was announced in 2013.

Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council think tank, said any sale of Super Tucano aircraft would demonstrate improving ties, but cautioned that their ability to counter Boko Haram could be limited.

“When you’re fighting a group that’s no longer holding towns and villages, that’s no longer massing forces in a conventional way, the aircraft – attack aircraft – have a much more limited role in that kind of fight,” Pham said.

They acknowledge that they have a tough task combating the group, which is sending women and children strapped with explosives to blow up civilian targets such as marketplaces.

“Boko Haram has morphed back in to what it had earlier been, not a holder of large amounts of territory, but rather a generator of asymmetric attacks,” the second official said.