Punch
A former Chief of Logistics at the Nigerian Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Sikiru Smith (retd.), says the use of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles will reduce military casualties, especially in the ongoing anti-terror war against Boko Haram insurgency in North-East Nigeria.
Smith, who is also a former Chief of Defence Communications at the Defence Headquarters, spoke on Thursday while featuring on a PUNCH Live interview programme.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that a NAF Alpha Jet aircraft (NAF475) went off the radar in March 2021 in Borno State. The jet was involved in the insurgency fight. Boko had claimed responsibility for downing the jet but NAF refuted the claim. NAF later declared that the jet crashed and the whereabouts of two pilots onboard unknown till date.
But AVM Smith said, “Using drones will save lives in the sense that if there is anything, it is the machine that will suffer, human beings will be saved but buying drones is expensive and human beings will be involved to control it.
“We have drone pilots, those drones will be controlled by pilots on the ground. So, the issue of casualties will be reduced. We are gradually getting there. drones are precision aircraft, they go directly to the target. We are getting to that stage where we will use drones to fight our enemies.”
Also commenting on the recent successive crashes involving NAF jets, AVM Smith said the aircraft maintenance procedure of civil aviation is the same thing as military aviation.
He said, “Aircraft maintenance procedure is the same thing world-over. The way civil aviation is maintaining its aircraft is the same way the Air Force is maintaining its aircraft fleet. Every aircraft has its maintenance manual. In civil aviation, they do C-Check, D-Check, and B-Check. The same thing is being done in military aviation, sometimes with a different name altogether.”
The PUNCH observed that at least 20 military officers have lost their lives in the last three months in three crashes involving NAF jets, the latest being the Kaduna crash, which claimed the life of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Ibrahim Attahiru.
The Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria has since recovered the black box of the Beachcraft 350 jet that crashed on Friday and said its investigators will download and analyse vital information contained in the recorders to ascertain the cause of the crash.
This Story First Appeared At The Punch