Airforces

NEWS

20 // MAY 2018 #362 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

Africa

Ugandan Huey IIs move to Soroti Angola to

buy three

C295s

ANGOLA PLANS to

acquire three C

Persuader maritime patrol

aircraft (MPAs), it was

announced on March 9.

A presidential order

issued on March 2

authorised the contract,

worth €159.9m, between

Airbus Defence and

Space and local

commodities trading

company Simportex.

Although a budget for

the purchase is yet to

be secured, the Angolan

finance minister has

been authorised to start

negotiating a loan with a

Spanish banking group.

The Persuaders would

be used for monitoring

and surveillance missions

in the country’s exclusive

economic zone (EEZ).

Above: The UPDF Huey II fl eet at Soroti in February. Ruppert Baird
THE UGANDA Peoples’
Defence Force (UPDF)’s
new five-strong UH-1H-II
Huey II fleet has flown to
the reopened Soroti Air
Force Base, the helicopters
being transferred north
from Entebbe on January

5. Photos of the aircraft
   at their new home reveal
   their identities to be AF
   (ex-US Army 64-13898),
   AF315 (66-16126),
   AF324 (64-16321),
   AF335 (64-17099) and
   AF342 (64-17123).

In August 2016 the US

government’s Federal

Business Opportunities

website indicated the

intention to award Bell a

contract for eight Huey IIs

for Uganda, amended two

days later to five. It was

duly awarded the following

month and all were delivered

last November. A technical

assistance fielding team from

the US was in Uganda to

instruct UPDF maintainers

on the type in January and

February. Ruppert Baird

NAF’s fi rst UAV pilots fi nish in-house training

NIGERIA HAS completed

in-house training of its first

unmanned air vehicle (UAV)

pilots. Five Nigerian Air

Force (NAF) UAV pilots

formally graduated and were

decorated with their ‘wings’

by the Chief of the Air

Staff, Air Marshal Sadique

Abubakar, at NAF Base

Maiduguri in the northeast

of the country on March 2.

Instruction of the new

pilots began in 2016

at 401 Flying Training

School, Kaduna, and in

May last year they began

conversion onto the

Chinese-manufactured

CASC CH-3A armed U AV.

The programme lasted

around two years, and the

CH-3A specifics phase for

ten months, culminating

in check ‘rides’ for each

of the five new pilots.

Each currently has nearly

100 hours on the type.

The NAF is now ready to

train additional UAV pilots

to provide the required

manpower to operate

the NAF’s drone fleet,

which is expected to grow

significantly in the coming

years. Dave Allport

Nigerian Air Force

adds more Do 228s

THREE DORNIER 228s

previously owned by the

Nigerian Immigration

Service (NIS) Air Border

Patrol Unit have been

transferred to Nigerian Air

Force (NAF) ownership

by presidential directive.

Details of the acquisition

emerged on March 15

when the Nigerian Chief of

the Air Staff, Air Marshal

Sadique Abubakar, toured

NAF facilities at Kaduna.

He inspected the three

aircraft, which are being

brought back to operational

condition after a lengthy

period in storage.

The NIS was officially

notified on February 8

that the aircraft were

being transferred to the

NAF. On March 9 last

year, during a visit to the

NIS base at Kaduna,

Minister of the Interior Lt

Gen (ret.) Abdulrahman

Dambazau said the federal

government had resolved

to return the aircraft to

airworthiness, but there

was no mention at that

time of plans to transfer

them to the air force.

The aircraft are 228 -

5N-AUW (c/n 7018) plus

228 -101s 5N-AUY (c/n

7116) and 5N-AUZ (c/n

7167), two of which are

reported to have been out

of service for nearly 20

years. The third, 5N-AUW,

completed a certificate

of airworthiness check in

June 2013 but was then

also inexplicably withdrawn

from use. Extensively

cannibalised during their

long period of storage,

most of the trio’s avionics

and surveillance equipment

have been removed. It

remains unclear why they

were grounded soon after

delivery despite being

completely airworthy and

having fully trained crews.

The NAF is now

upgrading the Do 228s,

reinstalling surveillance

systems and a night vision

capability along with an

area mapping system,

so they can resume their

former role as border patrol

aircraft. Dave Allport

Above: Former Nigerian Immigration Service Dornier 228-100 5N-AUW (c/n 7018) at Kaduna

on March 15. NAF HQ

Above: The fi ve new Nigerian Air Force UAV pilots in front of an armed NAF CH-3A UAV after

their graduation at Maiduguri. NAF HQ