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DEFENCE

ightglobal.com 15-21 August 2017 | Flight International | 19

Piper’s second-

quarter sales

take off

Business Aviation P

A

possible sale of 12 Embraer/
Sierra Nevada A-29 Super
Tucano armed turboprops to Ni-
geria has secured approval from
the US State Department, despite
concerns from the previous ad-
ministration in Washington DC.
In a 3 August notification, the
US Defense Security Cooperation
Agency (DSCA) identifies Cen-
tennial, Colorado-headquartered
Sierra Nevada as prime contrac-
tor for the Foreign Military Sales
programme deal, which is worth
a potential $593 million. The
package also includes “weapons,
all associated training, spare
parts, aviation and ground sup-
port equipment, hangar, facilities
and infrastructure,” it adds.

In January 2017, a Nigerian air

force fighter bombed a refugee

camp near the country’s north-

eastern border with Cameroon.

The action – which is believed to

have killed at least 100 civilians

• prompted the Obama adminis-
  tration to put the potential Super
  Tucano sale on hold.
  President Donald Trump’s ad-
  ministration restarted the approv-
  al process a few months later, to
  support Nigeria’s fight against
  Boko Haram and Islamic State
  militants in the country.
  Nigeria’s A-29 pilots will be
  trained in targeting, and in
  human rights and the law of
  armed conflict, a US government
  official tells FlightGlobal. Intro-

duction of the new model will

“help professionalise, modernise,

and build the capacity of Nigeria’s

armed forces,” the DSCA says.

If approved by Congress, the

sale would represent another US-

brokered success for the A-29,

with the US Air Force having

previously ordered 26 examples

for Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Flight Fleets Analyzer records

Embraer as having delivered or

received orders for the armed

A-29 and Super Tucano trainer

from Angola, Burkina Faso, Mali,

Mauritania and Senegal, with

Ghana also having expressed in-

terest in acquiring it.

Meanwhile, the USAF con-

firms that its current OA-X/Com-

bat Dragon III light-attack aircraft

experiment is limited to the A-29,

Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine, L

Technologies AT-802L Longsword

and Textron AirLand Scorpion, as

it “did not have more than four

platforms that satisfied the partici-

pation criteria”.

Iomax says it opted against of-

fering its Thrush 710-based Arch-

angel turboprop after reviewing

the initial requirements. ■

USA has previously sold Embraer type to Afghanistan and Lebanon

US Air Force

Incident at Ramon air base involved an A-model attack helicopter

Israeli air force

ACQUISITION LEIGH GIANGRECO WASHINGTON DC

Super Tucano sale

for Nigeria back on

after key approval

Sierra Nevada will prime $593m contract, with armed A-
purchase to boost operations against Boko Haram militants

SAFETY ARIE EGOZI TEL AVIV

Fatal accident prompts

Israel to ground Apaches

I

srael temporarily grounded its

air force’s Boeing AH-64 Apache

attack helicopters on 7 August for

the second time in recent

months, after a fatal crash at its

Ramon air base.

As an AH-64A “Peten” was ap-

proaching the base, its pilot re-

ported a technical problem. Sec-

onds later, it crashed between the

two runways, killing him and in-

juring a second crew member.

The crash occurred two

months after Israel’s Apache

squadrons temporarily halted op-

erations after a 7.8in (20cm)-long

crack was found in a tail rotor

blade, prompting inspections.

Preliminary indications from

an investigation do not connect

the Ramon crash to the tail rotor

blade issue, however. ■

Download the 2017

World Air Forces Report

http://www.flightglobal.com/waf

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