By Peter Amine (NAN)
\nThe Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar has said that the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) now manufactures missile heat shields, hydraulic accumulator diaphragm and maintains its aircrafts locally.
\nAbubakar stated this on Wednesday in Jos during a public lecture at the University of Jos, entitled: \u2018The Role of Nigerian Air Force in Contemporary Security Challenges\u2019.
\nThe CAS said that prior to his administration, the NAF was relied on its foreign partners for almost everything.
\nHe said that the breakthroughs were made possible through continuous and painstaking research and development.
\n\u201cThe service has undertaken various initiatives singly and in conjunction with credible partners and these have already yielded positive outcomes.
\n\u201cFor example, the Service now produces a better version of the hydraulic accumulator diaphragms for its Mi-35 helicopter and L-39 aircraft fleet.
\n\u201cIn the same vein, the Air Force Research and Development Centre made breakthroughs in the local production of Missile Heat Shields.
\n\u201cAdditionally, the NAF now collaborates with Innoson Group of Companies to mass produce brake pads and rivets for the Alpha Jet aircraft which were unavailable, due to closure of its production lines.
\n\u201cAn interesting feat is the breakthrough we had in making our previously grounded CH-3A Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) serviceable after in-country repairs by NAF engineers and indigenous research partners.
\n\u201cThe CH-3A, which is an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) capable of using precision munitions as well as conducting aerial surveillance, was launched into operation after these repairs,\u201d he said.
\nAbubakar added that NAF has also made breakthroughs in down streaming of live Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) footage on some of its surveillance platforms.
\nThe CAS added that ISR enables more robust response to activities of terrorists and armed bandits in ongoing operations.
\nHe said that the feat changed the previous system where NAF had to depend solely on some providers of such services for delayed footages and at very high costs.
\n\u201cAdditional breakthroughs in the NAF Research and Development efforts include the local production of C-130H auxiliary power unit test stand.
\n\u201cOthers are weaponisation of NAF and Nigerian Police Force Bell 412 helicopters, production of 30.1mm live rockets and production of hilux mounted rocket launchers as well as geisha 23mm guns of the decommissioned Mig-21 aircraft,\u201d he explained.
\nHe added that NAF was partnering 15 universities to improve its research and development.
\nAbubakar said that apart from its counter insurgency efforts, NAF has executed some Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) projects.
\nHe listed the CIMIC programmes to include donation of mosquito treated nets, medical care, water supply, school feeding and donation of food items.
\nAccording to him, the NAF conducted 66 medical outreaches with over 370,000 patients seen including 2,065 general and eye surgeries carried out from July 2015 till date.
\n\u201cNAF has also established and maintained a Level two Hospital at the IDP Camp, Dalori. The Level two Hospital provides both preventive and therapeutic services to the displaced persons.
\n\u201cFurthermore, NAF has provided individual carry-on first aid kits containing various medical items for 1,000 special force personnel.
\n\u201cThese measures bolstered the confidence of the people in the military, countered Boko Haram Terrorists recruitment strategy and enhanced local intelligence gathering,\u201d he said.
\nProf. Sabastian Maimako, Vice Chancellor, University of Jos, thanked Abubakar for accepting the request to deliver the lecture.
\nHe said the lecture was an eye opener on the various achievements and challenges of the NAF, adding that Nigerians had benefited from its various research and development efforts.
\nOn his part, Prof. Nenfort Gomwalk, a former vice chancellor of the university, who was the chairman of the occasion, lauded NAF\u2019s contribution in tackling insurgency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Peter Amine (NAN) The Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar has said that the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) now manufactures missile heat shields, hydraulic accumulator diaphragm and maintains its aircrafts locally. Abubakar stated this on Wednesday in Jos during a public lecture at the University of Jos, entitled: \u2018The Role of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":12408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[544,545],"class_list":["post-23256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-missile-heat-shields","tag-naf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}