- Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, Chief of the Air Staff, said some troops in the fight against Boko Haram nearly lost their lives last year, 2017 over water starvation
- Abubakar declared that the NAF deployed helicopters to supply water to the trapped troops
- He said NAF has been contributing its quota to the counter insurgency campaign through the projection of air power and deployment of special forces in theatre of operations
Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, chief of the air staff, on Tuesday, August 14, explained how Nigerian Air Force rescued some troops in the fight against Boko Haram from water starvation at Alagarno, Borno state, last year, 2017.
The Nation reports that Abubakar maintained that the NAF deployed helicopters to supply water to the trapped troops.
Abubakar made this known at the logistics command’s simulation of air lifting and supply of relief materials held at the 631 Aircraft Maintenance Depot (ACMD), Ikeja, Lagos.
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Codenamed Exercise OMO OLOJA, the simulation, which was flagged off by the chief of defence staff, general Gabriel Olonisakin, was designed to train the personnel of the logistics command in the conduct of medium scale airlift operations.
Abubakar said: “The critical importance of air logistics support was amply demonstrated in 2017 when the Nigerian Air Force contained the development of an ugly situation in Alagarno through supply of drinking water by helicopters to ground troops, who had been cut off behind enemy lines.
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“From the foregoing, it’s clear that the best planned operations could fail without logistics support and hence the need to use logistics command from time to time to determine the effectiveness of our logistics support arrangements in support of NAF operations.”
As an instrument of national power, he said the NAF had been contributing its quota to the counter insurgency campaign through the projection of air power and deployment of special forces in theatre of operations.
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that the Nigerian Air Force constructed and commissioned 2 new helipads at 207 Quick Response Group (207 QRG) in Gusau.
The 2 helipads, which were commissioned on Thursday, June 13 June, would enable NAF combat helicopter gunships to operate from Gusau thereby increasing their reach during air operations within Zamfara state and environs.
A statement by Air Vice Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya, director of public relations and information NAF, said the construction of the helipads is part of measures by the NAF leadership at enhancing its air operations in support of NAF special forces and other security agencies in the state.
Nigerian Air Force operations against Boko Haram on NAIJ.com TV:
Source: Naija.ng