The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar has re-iterated his commitment to transform the force into an agile and resilient force that meets the airpower demands of National Security in all Operational environments.
He stated this at the graduation ceremony of Airforce Institute of Technology-AFIT sundry courses held in Kaduna.
Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar explained that between October last year to now, the force had inducted twelve brand new aircraft including 4 diamond 62 surveillance aircraft, 2 king air 360 light transport aircraft, 4 T-129 Atak helicopters, as well as 2 AW 109 trekker.
According to the Air Chief, pending acquisitions on the horizon include 3 CASA-295 medium airlift/surveillance aircraft, 10 AW 109 trekker 12AH attack helicopters and 24 M-346 attack aircraft.
Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar also disclosed that the NAF would take additional delivery of fifty brand new aircraft between December this year to 2026.
He pointed out that the NAF had embraced a predictive maintenance culture across all its engineering and maintenance units.
The Chief of Air Staff said the force under his watch has focused on leveraging cutting-edge technology and advancing indigenous military manufacturing through research and development.
He added that he had also directed the creation of a database for NAF personnel interested in research and development, and many have shown interest.
Earlier, Commandant of the AFIT, Air Vice Marshal Sani Rabe said the AFIT management was doing everything possible to enhance the quality of training programmes, as well as provide a conducive environment to ease learning for students.
He therefore solicited for the support of the Air Chief to overcome some of the challenges being faced by the institute.
The Commandant also congratulated the graduants, and charged them to be good ambassadors of the AFIT.
A total of 432 personnel graduated from various military courses.
Highpoint of the event was the presentation of awards and certificates to deserving personnel.
Cov/Usman Sani.
