KoenL Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 Nigeria to spend 150b naira to refurbish military planes Abuja, Nigeria - Nigeria\'s federal government has earmarked 150 billion naira to refurbish military planes grounded by years of neglect, according to Defence Minister Yayale Ahmed (125 naira=US$1). The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) will spend the money to bring back to service five C-130 Hercules Transport planes as well as fighter and trainer jets, the Minister said. Already, one the five C-130 planes remaining in the inventory of the NAF has been successfully refurbished in Bordeaux, France, where it underwent the Periodic Depot Maintenance. The plane arrived in the capital city of Abuja Tuesday, while the remaining four are also slated to undergo the same maintenance The Minister said the newly-refurbished aircraft spent one year in France \"and it has been successfully done and transformed into a brand new aircraft.\" \"All the NAF aircraft that you used to see sleeping, we have now injected funds for them to start sneezing and from that stage they will go crawling, jumping and flying,\" he said Tuesday in Abuja, at a ceremony to formally receive the C-130 plane from France. In addition to the refurbishment of the air force planes, the Minister said there were plans to purchase new ones \"when the occasion demanded\". Ahmed said the return to service of the transport planes would enable the country to airlift its troops for peacekeeping mission and also assist needy African air forces. Eight C-130 aircraft were originally in the inventory of the NAF, but by 2005 most of them had been grounded due to years of non-maintenance. Out of the eight grounded transport planes, NAF decided to de-commission three, leaving the five now slated for maintenance. Abuja - 24/10/2007 Panapress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cobra935o Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Do they have some new internet scams going to help pay for this? Hehe, I get those scam letters almost daily, still coming from Nigeria from what I understand. Nathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Wilson Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Yeas Hallo! I General Mugooboo from Niger Ar Forc. I need get this money to the Gubermint bank acount in USNEWYORK City, pleas cash for me and just return stratopower hyd pump to me here in Nigeria and keep extra for youself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenL Posted October 31, 2007 Author Share Posted October 31, 2007 Haha good one guys! On a more serious note I do wonder if there is any interest in the aircraft they aren\'t upgrading. What kind of state would they be in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loadsmith Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123164970 by Tech. Sgt. Alec Lloyd 17th Air Force Public Affairs 8/26/2009 - RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- A group of active-duty Air Force and Tennessee Air National Guardsmen recently helped restore one of Nigeria's C-130 transport aircraft to flying condition as part of an ongoing military-to-military engagement between 17th Air Force (U.S. Air Forces Africa) and the West African nation. Lt. Col. David MacKenzie, deputy director of 17th Air Forces plans and programs directorate, visited Nigeria in January along with members from the Secretary of the Air Force International Affairs, Africa Division and the C-130 System Program Office to lay the groundwork for the visit. From Aug. 16 to 29, he partnered with a team of 12 maintainers from the 118th Airlift Wing in Nashville, Tenn., to help demonstrate and familiarize the Nigerian air force maintainers with evaluating and repairing one of Nigeria's C-130H transport aircraft. Currently, only one out of eight C-130s is available for service. "The 118th has done a terrific job in helping us partner with this key African nation to build capacity to support African Union and United Nations peacekeeping transport capabilities," Colonel MacKenzie said. "This is the biggest military-to-military exchange event we've done in 2009, and we couldn't have done it had the 118th not stepped up with not only the maintenance folks but with their own C-130H aircraft and crew providing the transport and Ravens to guard the aircraft." The mission was primarily to demonstrate propeller and engine change procedures in order to render the C-130 airworthy enough to fly to an aircraft repair depot in Europe for a more extensive overhaul. The Nigerians took advantage of the opportunity to learn as much as they could from the 118th demonstrations. "The 118th was perfect for this task as they are developing into an international training unit having recently conducted training and visits with the Polish air force and their own growing C-130 fleet," Colonel MacKenzie said. The Nigerians' drive to learn impressed Senior Master Sgt. David West, a flightline supervisor with the 118th AW. "They want to know everything we can teach them," he said. "They want to learn and they want to work." The Nigerian C-130 fleet dates from the mid-1980s, and has not been upgraded since then. Sergeant West said that this is where the continuity of the Air National Guard really comes in handy. "There's hardly anyone here with less than 20 years experience," he said. "That means you can always ask one of the guys 'remember when we had a problem like this?' and odds are you've experienced it, either on the military or civilian side. Someone who had only worked on the J-model would be completely lost on this." Chief Master Sgt. Tony Jeanette, also of the 118th AW, said that their Nigerian hosts have been excellent. "They welcomed us with open arms, very cordial and polite," he said. "Their problem is that they need some formal training and tools. Without tools, you can't fix anything." In addition to the 118th AW, the mission drew upon two Air Force international affairs officers, a civilian technician from the new business office and 1st Lt. Dan Wilkenson, an aerospace composites engineer from the 330th Aircraft Sustainment Group at Robbins Air Force Base, Ga. Lieutenant Wilkenson's expertise was critical in setting the stage to render the additional Nigerian C-130 aircraft ready to enter Program Depot Maintenance. "The biggest challenge we have so far is part and tool availability," Lieutenant Wilkenson said. "If we have to replace something, we pretty much have to can it from another aircraft instead of drawing it from supply, which is a lengthy process." He also noted that there was a shortage of safety equipment and larger tools such as engine stands, making what would otherwise be fairly simple repairs much more complex. Despite the obstacles, the event has been so successful that the Nigerian chief of air staff initiated talks during the event to repair a second aircraft as soon as possible. "I'm really glad to be here," Chief Jeanette said. "This has been a good experience for both sides and we hope to come back again when they launch this aircraft to fly to the depot and start work on the second one." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyclark Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 How much is 150 billion Naira? $50,000? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC10FE Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 I thought Sabena Tenicks went down to Lagos a few years ago & refurbished the Nigerian C-130's. I knew the crew that flew the FCF's on them; Bonzo Von Haven, Peter Gardiner & Steve Luster. I guess after the FCF's, they just left them parked again. Like my South African captain used to say, "AWA - Africa Wins Again." BTW, Tiny, 1 Nigerian niara = 0.00638 USD. Don R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 Many years back, I saw some of those Nigerian C-130s, and they were equipped with the AN/APQ-122(V)5 radar. I hope they have swapped that out; reliability wasn't all that great, and it would be very expensive to try and maintain that old radar these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Davenport Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 How much is 150 billion Naira? $50,000? Live rates at 2009.08.27 17:07:54 UTC 1.00 NGN = 0.00651466 USD Nigeria Nairas United States Dollars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyclark Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 Hard to believe they have that much money. APQ122(V)5? Holy Dog, we took that off the H1s in 1988 and the C5s some time around there as well, maybe in the very early '90's. With all those parts and the (V)1 AWADS parts that AFSOC couldn't use for the (V)8, that would give them a few spares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 Hard to believe they have that much money. APQ122(V)5? Holy Dog, we took that off the H1s in 1988 and the C5s some time around there as well, maybe in the very early '90's. With all those parts and the (V)1 AWADS parts that AFSOC couldn't use for the (V)8, that would give them a few spares. I would bet you a beer or two that few, if any of the excess USAF APQ-122V1, V5, or V7 hardware was saved. When Talon 1 (APQ-122(V)8) was being transferred to Warner Robins, they were advised to save all the unique hardware that they could, but soon thereafter, WR was looking for hardware for the Freon 116 system and the radome anti-ice. It all went to scrap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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