herquleez:

I agree with you on that, but you would not deny the fact that crashes are too common in the nigerian airforce. This is another pointer to the fact that our maintenance culture is terribly bad; that's a jet that was refurbished not too long ago by a foreign company (MBB of Germany-I stand to be corrected though), meaning many of the components(avionics, hydrolics, engines and weapons systems and even the ejector seats) are supposed to be new.

What happened? WHy and How, When? could it have been avoided? was anyone respponsible? was it avoidable? has there been signs etc. Why didnt the pilots eject? have they been properly traained to use ejector seats, do the ejectors even work at all? We barely have survivors when our jets crash, yet these jets are supposed to be equiped with these life savers that work all around the world saving pilots.

These are questions that should be asked by both the military authorities and civilians alike.

Given the rate our jets and choppers crash all the time something drastic has to be done.

It's sad we lose brave ones to our own attitude of laclustre attitude to issues bordering on human life and national security.

I got loads of millitary friends and it's sad for them because they know they work will unreliable machines that are poorly maintained. You need to see them mourn lost comrades to feel their pain.

We need to change in this country abeg...we need to.

RIP to the dead.

julioralph: RIP
But were the planes made n china?

Reference:

Ex-boys of where or what

Mad Cow: When the rest of the world have all upgraded to Mirages, F/A-18 Hornets, F-22 Raptors, B-2 Spirit Stealth bomber, F-117 Nighthawk, Nigeria is still flying aircrafts that are best suited for a military museum. No ejector seat on a fighter jet in 2013?! Amazing..

Anyways, with the poor funding of our military, its a surprise really that they dont still fight on horses armed only with bows and arrows.

Mad Cow:

So we should rather put our officers inside aircrafts that are so easy to shoot down with a simple RPG instead abi?

Why not spend money to purchase 5 super fighter jets rather than have 25 super ordinary flying coffins?! Just the other day in Port-Harcourt, I saw an Airforce Gunship that was smoking as if it had just been hit in combat.

solomon111: Bloody liar.
The Nigerian airspace is totally covered by radar.
It would take a good stealth tech to evade detection,and very few countries have such tech.

Reference:

Be serious. Most fighter jets of the alpha jet era in the western world have been retired. The Brits have all but phased out the harriers, jaguars and the tornadoes are on their way out. Same in france and the us.

There's no reason why this country cannot purchase at least ten new fighter jets at an average of 50 million a piece every year and replace our entire fleet every thirty years or so. We should not be taking alpha jets into combat in 2013. Its suicidal, period.

idupaul:

You are a thief .. Radar coverage on paper shei. .. Please when Dana crashed where was the radar Coverage to Know last known location of the craft , was it not the last coordinates the pilot radioed in that men in the contorl tower use to know about inbound aircraft .. Is it not true that if a pilot does not radio in then FAAN doesn't know anything about his location .. Is it not true that FAANs omni directional beacons backbone hasn't functioned since the early 90s... Where was this ur radar when Azazis ChoPper went down and other choppers had to use line of sight techniques to locate the said chopper... I have been seeing U spew rubbish and charlatanism on this thread please don't. Ever argue anything aviation with me .....Mumu

idupaul: Ocelot B2s cost about 2 billion dollars and not 22 billion dollar .. U know ur mettle so I take it was a typo

nicago:

People that finished their Secondary school education in Nigerian Military school Zaria are called Ex-Boys..

lacasa: Wen d funds for maaintenance n overhauling is beeing siphoned by the Ogas at the Top, this is one of the results

*mechanical fault*


Well,
#.. God rst their souls

lacasa: Wen d funds for maaintenance n overhauling is beeing siphoned by the Ogas at the Top, this is one of the results

*mechanical fault*


Well,
#.. God rst their souls

sakaguchi: RIP to those soldiers and for all those who have paid the ultimate price for this country. It pains me deeply in my pericardium whenever I hear of plane crashes, but it is even more disheartening that this is rather a common occurrence in Nigeria, every time who foolishly push our young soldiers to die simply because they have dedicated themselves for complete service to the nation, why the h*ll is that old model jet still in use, no sector of this economy is even enjoying what could be tag a priority. The military/security has gulped in Billions of naira in the last two budgets but the barracks, their weapons, the jets, the boats are all decrepit and are screamingly in need of overhaul. where this young gentlemen in the army use in sustaining their morale I don't know, because everything I see around is so spirit-dampening. Those are not Boko Haram beast that just lost their lives, those are Air-force of the federal republic, their names should be made known and they should be given a befitting burial suited for national heroes. RIP to the fallen heroes!!!

solomon111: Do you know how much a B-2 spirit cost,let alone the cost of maintainence?
You want us to use the federal allocation to your state to get those birds?
That would be a very good idea.

firetrap: author=Mad Cow]

Copying and pasting from wikipedia would not still change the fact that some of those jets you mention above are proprietary military hardware that cannot and will not be sold to other countries. The international arms market is controlled and monitored strictly. People always come online to bash nigeria in everything. The government wants the best for her military but can only acquire the best of what the producing nations are willing to sell or transfer to other countries.

ocelot2006:

Apart from the Jaguar, the Harriers and Tornados are VERY MUCH in service and have seen combat as recent as Afghanistan, and will contnue to fly for quite a while. Even the F-16 whose design originates from the same geneartion as the Alpha jet, and the older MIG-29 Fulcrum are still in service. And a number of countries are yet to retire their own fleet of alphajets (France included). The Alphajet is not a relic.

sweet_gala:

It is not a relic but it is a trainer jet and should not be used otherwise.
We need SU-25 and SU-30.

Limaoscar: If this guys were not shot down then I await the explanation for why these boys could not have ejected into safety.

Lord please console their families and hopefully we get to the bottom of this for lessons learnt

sweet_gala:

There is no military embargo on the Nigerian army, we should start considering upgrading our military arsenal.

However before that we need to dismiss half of the civil service which is redundant and reduce the salary and covered expense of government officials by over 70%.

That would immediately free up revenue and allow for expenditure to improve the lives of the people.

careytommy:
Gallant Ex-Boys
May their souls RIP

idupaul:

Are they the one captured in the attached pic?

Reference:

Ex-boys of where or what

kenraj:


Very gallant EXBOYS.... We will miss them and i pray GOD consoles their bereaved families.

Proudly an EXBOY!

ocelot2006:


You do know the Mi-35 assault helicopter, the world's most rugged combat helo, has its exhaust vents close to the rotors, right? No? Then STFU and stop posting trash.

ocelot2006:

Bros, list the number of countries that fly the F-22 apart from the US? Do you know that production of the raptoe has long been halted due to its exorbitant costs? Do u also know that only the US operates only a single fleet of B-2 spirit bombers? Do you know it costs over 22 BILLION DOLLARS to make just one? Do you also know that the F-117 will soon be withdrawn from service?

Back to the Alpha jet. If older fighters like the. MIG-21, Kfirs, F-16s, Sukhois, etc all come with ejector seats, do you really think the Dassault Alpha jet don't? When we lost an Alpha jet during the Sierre Leonean war during a combat sortie due to groundfire, how the hell do youthe pilot was able to bail out from the damaged aircraft before it crashed into the jungle? World war 2 style?

Seriously, if you don't know much about a subject, STFU and learn from others, rather than tyoe trash and disgrace yourself on this thread. Rubbish.