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NAF missing aircraft: Alpha Jets many battles for Nigeria

A NAF Alpha Jet supporting Nigerian troops at one of the Theatres of Operation lost radar contact Wednesday night.

The NAF Director, Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabwet, who confirmed the incident, said efforts are on to locate it and rescue the pilots

Below are what you should know about Alpha Jets

  1. Alpha Jet is a light attack and advanced trainer aircraft manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany.
  2. First French prototype performed first flight on October 26, 1973 and the first German prototype performed its first flight the following year on January 9, 1974.
  3. Nigeria acquired 24 Alpha Jets for the Nigerian Air Force in the 1980s.
  4. The jets have seen action in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the 1990s and have been the backbone of the air campaign against Boko Haram. Alpha Jets also played a role during ECOWAS military intervention to force Yahaya Jammeh to accept defeat after losing in the 2017 presidential election.
  5. In 2013, the Nigerian Air Force upgraded 13 of its 24 for Alpha Jets for counter-insurgency operations.
  6. Nigeria acquired four de-militarized Alpha Jets from the US in 2015, to boost its fleet of the Air Force’s workhorse.
  7. One of the Jets was lost during an operation against Boko Haram in 2014, after which it’s pilot was captured and later a video was released by Boko Haram of his decapitation

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