By Emmanuel Obisue
Nigerian Navy has taken delivery of three Agusta Westland AW109 Trekker helicopters.
The Navy disclosed this on their Facebook page on Wednesday, explaining that it took delivery of the helicopters from the Ministry of Defence at a brief ceremony on Tuesday 12 November 2024, at the Caverton Helicopters Limited, CHL hangar facilities in Ikeja, Lagos.
The Nigerian Navy had last month, announced that it had finalised arrangements to acquire 24 M-346 Fighter Ground Attack, FGA jets and ten AW-109 Trekker helicopters from Leonardo, describing it as a step towards fleet renewal which aligns with the CAS’s Command Philosophy to transform the Nigerian Air Force, NAF, for agility and resilience.
The AW 109 Helicopter has a purpose-built VIP configuration with full leather and noise attenuation system. Furthermore, the helicopter is designed with landing skid which gives it a better loading capacity compared to wheeled helicopters.
Additionally, the helicopter is designed with auxiliary tanks which gives it extended endurance of up to 3hrs 40mins. Thus, the helicopter could be used for long range transport flights. The helicopters could also be retrofitted with purpose built mission equipment.
Naval Chief Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla led other senior officers to receive the newly acquired helicopters.
Nigerian Pilot reports that also present at the hand-over ceremony were the Permanent Secretary MOD, Dr Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, Director Navy Affairs MOD, Dr Raji Isiaka Ogunshola, the President Caverton Group, Chief Remi Makanjuola and the Managing Director Caverton, Group Captain Bello (rtd).
Ogalla expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu, the Minister of Defence and the Minister of State for Defence for facilitating the acquisition of the helicopters to boost Naval operations such as Air Recce, Search and Rescue, Air Insertion and MEDEVAC.