The Nigeria Air Force has launched, in the Boko Haram troubled Northeast, a special helicopter, known as Bell 412,
that comes with a surveillance camera and has night capability.
Information reaching us confirmed that pilots, engineers and technicians have already been trained to operate and maintain the new helicopter. Adequate arrangements are said to have been made to ensure the availability of spares and Ground Support Equipment for the Bell 412 Helicopters.
Speaking at the launching, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, said that the new helicopter is going to be deployed to the Northeast as part of the effort to strengthen the counter terrorism campaign.
The Air Chief expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari for directing that the forfeited helicopters be transferred to the NAF, which he described as an eloquent testimony of his commitment to the development of the NAF.
Air Marshal Abubakar charged the pilots and engineers to demonstrate competence, proficiency and professionalism as they operate and maintain the new helicopter.
He thanked NAF’s technical partners with respect to the Bell 412 Helicopters, Messrs Africair, and hopped that the partnership would last and worthwhile.
Earlier, the Air Officer Commanding Logistics Command, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Ibrahim Yahaya, had commended all the government agencies whose efforts facilitated the successful launching of the Bell Helicopter into the NAF.
The new helicopter is one of the two that were handed over to the NAF by the Federal Government earlier this year. Having been in containers for about two years as at the time of the handover, the major systems of the two helicopters and the surveillance cameras had to be sent to the United States of America and Canada for overhaul and repairs to restore their airworthiness.
The helicopter’s major systems were later reassembled at the NAF’s 631 Aircraft Maintenance Depot (ACMD), Ikeja, Lagos, providing an opportunity for the attachment of NAF engineers and technicians to building their technical capacities.
The second Bell 412 Helicopter is still undergoing reactivation at 631 ACMD and would be launched into the NAF immediately after reactivation.
The climax of the launching ceremony was the fly-pass by the newly inducted Bell 412 Helicopter.
Air Marshal Abubakar and the representatives of the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff went aboard the helicopter and thus participated in the fly-pass.
Meanwhile, immediately upon landing in Lagos, the CAS paid a condolence visit on the family of late AVM Olufunsho Martins, a retired senior officer, who reportedly died in a road accident on 28 October.[myad]
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