By Abba Gwale
Six of the twelve Super Tucanos are on track to arrive in mid-July 2021, with the remaining six shortly after that.
The Senior Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mallam Garba Shehu, said this in a Facebook post today.
Garba Shehu said there are 14 Nigerian pilots currently training at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, adding that the Super Tucanos came off the production line in Jacksonville Florida and are now being equipped and flight tested.
He said Nigerian pilots and maintenance personnel are training on the planes and currently, construction is ongoing, which will house the aircraft.
The Air-Ground-Integration school is the training hub on targeting and minimization of civilian casualties.
At present, five Nigerian Super Tucanos are at Moody AFB in Georgia for pilot and maintainer training. The two companies released images of the sixth aircraft, which also will be flown to Moody, in a jungle camouflage scheme.
In November 2018, SNC was awarded a $329 million Foreign Military Sales contract from the US government to build 12 A-29s for the Nigerian air force. The armed turboprops are intended for use against Boko Haram and militants.
