Nigerian Air Force To Produce Liquid Oxygen For Combat Aircraft

Nigerian Air Force To Produce Liquid Oxygen For Combat Aircraft

In a drive to ensure it produces the essential equipment needed for the prosecution of the war on terrorism locally, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says it will soon begin the production of Liquid Oxygen for use by combat aircraft.The NAF Chief of Training and Operation (CTOP) Air Vice Marshal  (AVM), Abubakar Iya spoke during an operational visit to the 103 Strike Group Yola.  He said the Oxygen Plant is in the final stages and would produce various gases that will also be used by hospitals.

Iya said: “This is an operational visit as directed by the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) to the front line in the northeast, we inspected the oxygen plant, it is going to produce the necessary gases for flying and medical facility, it is an all-purpose plant but mainly it will produce liquid oxygen for our combat aircraft and as you can see the plant is almost ready. It can also produce other gases like nitrogen and gaseous oxygen which our hospitals could use, as soon as the plant is ready; it is going to service the entire air force.”

The CTOP also said the plant is being run and managed by local Air Force personnel in the drive to build the capacity of the local engineers. “It is part of our capacity building, the installation process is handled by our own personnel, the production is going to be handled by our own personnel, the company that manufactured the equipment is only coming to inspect to ensure everything is in place according to specification,” Iya said.

Meanwhile, the  NAF said it is activating its Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Monguno in order to support the operations of Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJFT) in Northern Borno, while special operations will also commence to push back the insurgents in that corridor.

The NAF CTOP, AVM Abubakar Iya said the Monguno FOB will also support the helicopter services of the NAF when the special operations begin. “We are going to Monguno to activate our Forward Operation Base so that we can adequately support the Multinational Joint Task Force who is also covering the northern fringes of Borno State, we are embarking on Special Operations very soon, in preparation for that, we want to make sure the Monguno FOB is specially prepared to support our Helicopter operations,” he said.

While assuring that the war on insurgency will soon be won, the CTOP assured that the Air Force will intensify monitoring and surveillance following the recent resurgence of attacks in Maiduguri.

“We will continue to follow them wherever they go, we will maintain constant surveillance and take necessary actions either by informing the ground troops or we have our own independent actions also where we take out any threat we see, wherever they go we are there. The NAF is quite capable, we are doing our best to ensure the problem is taken care of; we are giving maximum support to the land and maritime forces,” he said.