December 13, 2017

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says it is ready to partner with innovative institutions with capacity development to combat insecurity and insurgency in the country.

AVM Paul Jemitola, Principal Director, Air Research and Development Center, NAF, Kaduna, said this on Wednesday in Benin at the ongoing 15th meeting of the National Council of Science and Technology.

Jemitola said that this was in line with the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar’s vision for the Air Force.

According to him, the Air Chief is keen on research and development and encourages all kinds of development projects by the Air Force.

He said the Air Force was at the meeting to network and collaborate with other agencies and ministries that had capacity that would be of benefit to the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Jemitola said that the latest technology developed in addition to the many innovations by the Air Force were the Gulma Unmanned Area Vehicle (UAV) and the Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV).

He said that the UAV had a maximum Altitude capacity of 10,000 feet; cruise speed of 86.4kts; endurance limit of 5.8h hours and with a range of 923 kilometres and an engine capacity of 17hp.

Other components of the UAV, otherwise known as drone is that it is fully composite and a micro pilot avionics.

He said that the raw materials used in developing both the UAV and UGV were sourced within the country.

According to him, both equipment were designed and manufactured by the Air Development and Research Centre.

He said that the key thing in all was the intellectual capacity that brought the innovation together to a functioning unit that could be used for military purposes.