$500 Million A-29 Super Tucanos Arrive Nigeria

<p><em>&dollar;500 million A-29 Super Tucanos<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> has gathered that Chargé d’Affaires Kathleen FitzGibbon joined Air Marshal Oladayo Isiaka Amao&comma; the Nigerian Chief of Air Staff and his leadership team to inspect the newly arrived first six American Sierra Nevada Corporation&sol;Embraer Defense and Security A-29 &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Super Tucano” Light Attack aircraft as they arrived Nigeria&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The team includes Air Vice Marshal Jackson Andrew Yusuf&comma; Air Officer Commanding of Air Training Command&comma; Air Vice Marshal Pam Chollom&comma; Chief of Logistics&comma; and Air Vice-Marshal Precious Amadi&comma; Base Commander&comma; Nigerian Air Force Base&comma; Kainji&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to a statement made available to OpenLife by the US Embassy&comma; the aircraft represents a historic level of cooperation achieved between the U&period;S&period; and Nigerian militaries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Super Tucano platform for Nigeria is the United States’ largest Foreign Military Sales program in Sub-Saharan Africa&comma; valued at almost &dollar;500 million&period; This program follows the Department of Defense’s &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Total Package Approach” model and includes spare parts for several years of operation&comma; contract logistics support&comma; munitions&comma; and a multi-year construction project to improve Kainji’s infrastructure&period; Through this program&comma; the United States Air Force’s 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base&comma; Georgia&comma; trained Nigerian pilots and maintenance crews to U&period;S&period; standards&period; Training also emphasizes the Law of Armed Conflict and Civilian Casualty Mitigation&comma; which are fundamental principles of the Nigerian military’s professional education and training&period; With the A-29 Super Tucano purchase&comma; the Nigerian Air Force also has become a founding member of the U&period;S&period; Air Force’s &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Combined Light Attack Experiment&comma;” which is developing <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;">Light Attack<&sol;a> global best-practice tactics and doctrine for the 21st century&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard proudly welcomed the pilots and aircraft to Massachusetts on the first leg of their trans-Atlantic flight&period; The Super Tucano is a dual-pilot turboprop aircraft built as a workhorse combat air platform&comma; equipped for intelligence&comma; surveillance&comma; and reconnaissance &lpar;ISR&rpar; and for precision air-to-ground strike missions&period; The next six aircraft are scheduled for delivery later this year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chargé d’Affaires FitzGibbon noted&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Beyond the new hardware that you see on this runway&comma; this program has brought our two militaries closer informal training&comma; professional development&comma; airbase construction&comma; logistics planning&comma; and negotiations&period; We are proud to partner with Nigeria in its &&num;8216&semi;whole of government&&num;8217&semi; approach to end violent extremism and ensure a more stable&comma; prosperous country for all Nigerians&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;