The Nigerian Air Force has expressed interest in acquiring new aircraft from Airbus and has held discussions with the Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria on this and other matters.
The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, said the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is looking to partner with the Spanish Government in the areas of aircraft acquisition, training, air operations, intelligence sharing and capacity development in imagery analysis, and is in discussions with Airbus.
Amao stated that the NAF and Airbus of Spain were currently in talks to explore opportunities that could be available for the NAF to tap into, all with the hope of enhancing the NAF’s fleet. “If our interface with Airbus of Spain is anything to go by, I am hopeful that the outcome would go a long way in adding value to our current efforts in all our theatres of operation”, he said.
Sell said his country was willing to provide solutions that would support the various operations of the NAF. He also expressed Spain’s willingness to further deepen its partnership with the NAF by posting a Defence Attaché to the Spanish Embassy in Abuja.
As far back as 2016, Nigeria has expressed interest in acquiring C295W light transports from Airbus, with a delegation visiting Nigeria that October. In October 2019, then Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar hosted Airbus executives who were paying a courtesy visit to Nigeria – they discussed maintenance, training, and other matters. The Airbus executives provided presentations on Airbus aircraft.