New Nigerian Alpha Jet Delivery

ANOTHER SECOND-HAND Alpha

Jet has been delivered to the
Nigerian Air Force (NAF) from
the USA. The aircraft, NAF478,
passed through Iqaluit Airport,
Canada, on June 2, then flew on the
Reykjavk, Iceland, before arriving
in the UK on June 3. It made a brief
fuel stop at Manchester Airport
before continuing on its journey.
As previously reported in AFM,
the NAF took delivery of two
other Alpha Jets in March and
May last year, both of which were
acquired from Air USA Inc see
New Nigerian Air Force Alpha
Jets, May 2015, p24 and Second
Nigerian Alpha Jet Delivered, July
2015, p27. The NAF bought four
of the type from the company
last year and it is assumed that
this third example is one of these,
although this is unconfirmed. As
the three known deliveries are
NAF475, NAF477 and NAF478,
this suggests the fourth aircraft
is likely to be NAF476 it is not
known if it has been delivered.
Although these aircraft have been
sold to Nigeria in a demilitarised
configuration, on January 26,
the NAF announced it had
successfully modified the first
two Alpha Jets to carry weapons.
They had previously only been
used for training, but have been
weaponised to meet an urgent
operational requirement for
more strike aircraft to support
Operation Lafiya Dole counterinsurgency
missions against
Boko Harem in the northeast of
the country. Although the NAF
did not state what weapons have
been integrated, a photograph
released of one of the aircraft,
NAF475, showed what appeared
to be a 68mm SNEB rocket
pod and 250kg unguided
bomb under the port wing.
The NAF said it had earlier
sought overseas help to arm the
Alpha Jets, but several vendors
said they believed it would be
difficult to undertake the project.
Others apparently gave initial
estimates of $20,000-$30,000 to
modify each aircraft, which Nigeria
felt was prohibitively expensive.
In the end, the NAF assembled
its own team of technicians and
devised a way of achieving its
aim. After testing feasibility on the
ground, successful air tests were
completed with the weaponised
aircraft. The NAF estimates that
the programme cost around
4 million naira ($20,200).