The Nigerian Air Force, NAF, on Thursday took delivery of the first batch of six A-29 Super Tucano aircraft from the U.S.
The Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF Headquarters, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, announced this in a statement in Abuja.
According to Mr Gabkwet, the aircraft arrived Kano, at about 12.34 p.m.
But Trump tripped up at their Rose Garden news conference, following the lead of a foreign reporter’s question about the turboprop A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft at the heart of the deal, repeatedly calling them “helicopters.”
“We make the best military equipment in the world, and our friends can now buy that equipment,” Trump said. This administration has championed a more transactional foreign policy, and Trump was in full dealmaker-in-chief mode.
This A-29B Super Tucano, which is not a helicopter, patrols the skies of the Dominican Republic. (Courtesy of Lt. Col. Jonas Reynoso)
This A-29B Super Tucano, which is not a helicopter, patrols the skies of the Dominican Republic. (Courtesy of Lt. Col. Jonas Reynoso)
Ironically, the Nigerian government did take delivery of foreign-made military helicopters on Monday, according to a Nigerian Air Force release: Two Mi-35M helicopter gunships from America’s strategic competitor, Russia.
“We love helicopters. He loves them more than I do,” Trump said of Buhari, who was standing beside him at a separate podium. “He likes buying helicopters, and they’re buying a lot of helicopters.”
The reporter, saying Nigeria was in “dire need” of the Super Tucano to “address the problems back home,” asked Trump whether he would “be kind enough” to release at least two by 2020.
“Real soon,” Trump told her. “Part of the problem is you weren’t allowed to buy helicopters in our country and now you are. I worked that out so that now you can buy the helicopters that you want.
“They weren’t allowed to buy the helicopters for various reasons, which frankly weren’t good reasons. Now they get them, and they get them very quickly, and they are the best helicopters in the world,” Trump said.
He touted the deal as the first-ever sale of American military equipment to Nigeria, calling the country “a valued partner and a good friend.”
Buhari earlier on at the news conference thanked the U.S. for the A-29s. He left unspoken that President Barack Obama blocked the deal amid concerns from lawmakers typified by a Nigerian Air Force attack on a displaced persons’ camp in 2017 that killed more than 100 civilians.
The Trump administration will move forward with the sale of high-tech aircraft to Nigeria for its campaign against Boko Haram Islamic extremists despite concerns over abuses committed by the African nation’s security forces, according to U.S. officials.