SUMMARY OF THE ADDRESS BY THE CHIEF OF THE AIR STAFF AIR MARSHAL MD UMAR AT THE NAF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP 2011

The Nigerian Air Force has over the years acquired air assets from diverse sources due to lack of internal capacity to meet its defence needs.  These air assets with its ground support equipment are advanced technologies that require huge foreign exchange to acquire, operate and maintain.  Although internal capacity is being built to domesticate training and maintenance of these equipments, the required structures are not fully established in terms of policy frame-work and institutions for manpower development.  However, the NAF has largely relied on its field units and foreign technical partners to meet the challenges of equipment maintenance and sustenance in the face of lack of National Industrial base.

On assumption of office about a year ago, my administration pledged to reposition the Nigerian Air Force for better performance.  One area of our interest is human capacity building and equipment refurbishment.  I must pay tribute to my predecessors for the institution and solid foundation they left behind which has allowed us to build on.  One of their achievements was the establishment of Research and Development organizations in the NAF.   This first R&D workshop with the theme “The Role of Research and Development in Military Transformation” is aimed at making the NAF relevant in our Nation’s quest for technological transformation and further key into the Nation’s development agenda of Vision 20-20-20. The NAF is partnering with both governmental and private institutions on R&D.  Most of our endeavour have been fruitful, which have encouraged me to continue to fund projects of critical interest to the NAF some of which would be on display.

Chief of The Air Staff Air Marshal Md Umar

I have also given attention to producing a policy framework that would guide the activities of our research institutions. This document and that of Safety would be unveiled and commissioned by the Guest of Honour.  Since science and technology are inseparable twins, they should remain the key to the survival and wealth creation of our Nation.  R&D has been identified as the main thrust for knowledge acquisition.  I therefore intend to expand our internal capacity in maintenance R&D, technology transfer, reverse engineering and collaboration with local industries and tertiary instructions in areas they have comparative advantage to drive our transformation effort.  

I must state that the NAF is grossly lacking behind in ICT, Telecommunication and Space Studies.  In my view, the NAF should be the lead agency in these fields of endeavour.  I will be investing in capacity building in these areas to aggressively reposition the NAF into an institution that would be able to compete with its contemporaries else-where in the world.

 Permit me to pay tribute to the engineering personnel and their supervisors for the success recorded in research activities, especially on the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) project. The NAF has continued to finance research work on UAV through the collaborative activities of the Air Force Institute of Technology and Cranfield University, UK.  The UAV programme code named Amebo (1) was designed and manufactured by NAF MSc students of AFIT.  The prototype was successfully flight tested on 15th April 2010 . 

The success of this project encouraged funding for the second phase of the research which included airframe modification to improve structural integrity system upgrade and integration.    The decision on the future of Amebo projects would be taken as soon as the comprehensive results are evaluated.