Nigeria would next year receive three Aerosonde Mk 4.7 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from the United States of America.
Expectedly, the UAVs are to be deployed in in the fight against Boko Haram/Islamic State in West African Province (ISWAP) fight in Northeast region. It would also be deployed in other parts of Nigeria according to need.
The U.S. Department of Defence (DoD) had last week Tuesday confirmed the contract to supply the UAVs when it announced that AAI Corporation (Textron Systems) had been awarded a $25,610,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the three Aerosonde Mk 4.7 systems, its spares, logistics and training for Nigeria.
The DoD added that “work will be performed in Nigeria, with an estimated completion date of September 30, 2021.”
The other African country that placed order for the UAVs is Uganda. Textron was awarded a $20,780,000 firm-fixed-price contract for two Aerosonde Mk 4.7 systems, spares and training for Uganda with an estimated completion date of the project put at 30 September 2022.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is investing heavily in UAVs and is developing its own intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance UAV, the Tsaigumi, which was unveiled in February 2018.
In February this year the NAF said it had trained 20 personnel in India and the United States on how to handle UAVs.
The 20 include the 12 personnel trained as software developers in the US and eight in India on cyber security.
According to Textron, the Aerosonde has been designed for expeditionary land- and sea-based operations and equipped for simultaneous day/night full-motion video, communications relay and signals intelligence payloads in a single flight.
Payload options include video, communications relay, synthetic aperture radar, electronic warfare, signals intelligence, communications intelligence, 3D mapping and Automatic Identification System (AIS).
The aircraft has a wingspan of 3.7 metres, a range of 140 km, endurance of 14 hours, service ceiling of 4,600 metres and payload of 9.1 kg and it can be launched and recovered from small spaces, including vessels.
The Aerosonde Mk 4.7 was unveiled in March 2009 and has been deployed by the US military.
It has also been developed into the Aerosonde HQ, which has rotor blades for vertical takeoff and landing. Textron said the Aerosonde has to date completed more than 300,000 flight hours in the field.
The Aerosonde® Mark 4.7 Small Unmanned Aircraft System (SUAS) was jointly developed by AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems, and Aerosonde. The UAS is suitable for use in long-endurance missions.
The unmanned air system can be launched from land and ship-based platforms to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, and covert maritime missions as well as communication relay.
The Aerosonde® Mark 4.7 series SUAS was first unveiled in March 2009. It was offered by AAI for the US Navy and Marine Corps’ joint Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS)/Tier II competition in July 2009.
The SUAS, powered by Lycoming Engines’ new EL-005 multi-fuel engine, achieved 10,000 combat flight hours during its deployment by the US Department of Defense customers in Afghanistan by April 2014.
The Aerosonde SUAS fleet also includes Mark 4.4 and Mark 5.0.
