Nigeria takes delivery of Chinese drones to combat insurgency
Four Chinese made Wing Loong II combat drones have reportedly arrived in Nigeria to take part in ongoing counter insurgency and anti-banditry operations in the country’s restive northwest region.
This comes a month after Nigeria’s Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar, reportedly revealed that Nigeria had concluded the purchase of eight armed, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from China.
According to The Defence Post, the remaining four UAV’s are expected to arrive before the end of the year.
Wing Loong II, designed and manufactured by Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, was primarily developed for China’s People’s Liberation Army Airforce for surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
However, it can also be armed with variety of weapons including laser guided bombs and missiles such as the AKD-10 air-to-surface anti-tank missile, BRMI-90 90mm guided rocket, FT-7/130 small 130kg bomb with planar wing and FT-9/50 50kg bombs.
Operation Hadarin Daji. The Wing Loong II can remain airborne for 32 hours in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mode and for 26 hours in offensive mode.