Nigeria expects its first delivery of Leonardo M-346 fighter jets this year
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- Nigeria will take delivery of the first six of 24 Italian M-346 light fighter-trainer aircraft it has ordered by year end, the country’s Air Force has said.
Originally manufactured by Italy’s Leonardo as a twin-seater jet trainer, the M-346 has been acquired by Nigeria in its more recent, armed M-346FA fighter format.
The jets will be used for “close air support, air interdiction, and tactical reconnaissance as well as advanced pilot training,” the Air Force said in a statement.
The 24 aircraft are due to be delivered in four batches of six aircraft, with 25 years of logistic support included in the contract, the statement added.
Leonardo will profit from its maintenance operation on the aircraft in Nigeria to offer maintenance services there to its other clients in the region, the Air Force added.
The M-346FA, which has already reportedly been sold to Turkmenistan, offers seven external hard points and can integrate air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions and targeting pods linked to Helmet Mounted Displays.
Last year, Leonardo struck a deal to mount Nexter’s 20mm 20M621 gun pod on the jet, offering greater range and precision than the 12.7mm gun produced by Belgium’s FN Herstal, which was previously supplied with the aircraft.
We can’t afford fi6’ s the cost will be prohibitive. We can buy 24 m346 for the cost of maybe 8 f16’s without armaments. Not too mention the maintenance cost of the plane itself which is about $8000 per flight hour.
Most importantly there is no challenge from any country in the region in terms of AirPower so this planes are enough
This plane is meant to replace our Alpha Jets for light attack against boko haram and training. You should compare f16s to our JF17 and F7/J7s jets which definitely need an upgrade in the future
@@ARM-bv1og Nigeria purchased the M246 FA fighter Attack version of 24 aircraft at a cost of €50 million each. It had previously purchased 3 JF17s at a cost of €60 million each. these planes are not compatible with Chinese armaments therefore I don't think they will purchase further Jf17s.
A used f16 can cost from 16 to 24 million euros
@@maxsanti6751Your price Is pure fantasy!!!
@@trotamarmorata2673 1,2 Billion x 24 M346FA
Bon petit avion qui vole aussi du côté de Cazaux 🙂
Lol. We should be buying f16 s instead 😒
Yep. Best small fighter ever imagined, still kicking ass.
The maintenance and training for f16 would be overwhelming, noting that American engineers and trainers would bankrupt a country that are full of political thieves.
Never because USA can hold spare parts for F-16 maintance if they see fit and Nigeria will have a scrap yard of F-16 rotten appart on hangars.
@@lusa3002 it will be that way if they by from Russia or China too. The US tolerates way too much variance with many Allies, and way more than either of them.
The Saub Gripen is a damn good small fighter and I'm sure India would bend over backwards to sell Nigeria Tejas, but the most capable is by far the F16. If you go too cheap, better to just skip the whole idea.
Buying anything US made in arms is dangerous, remember what France did with our over 18 brand new jaguars still laying under the sun till date just because we dealt with the Republic of tchad for invading Borno state. They held spares from us and many maintenance.
Somuch for Chinese jets 😂
Wait, when they operate western jets and then they realised that maintainance is very expensive. Nigeria might revert back to Chinese jets..
@@truthful3777 M346 2000/4000$ for hour fly !!! China technology..???..pure garbage!!!