Nigeria anticipates receiving its first of 24 Leonardo M-346FAs in early 2025, with six examples of the armed variant of the advanced jet trainer already in production.

An initial three aircraft are due to be handed over next year, the Nigerian air force said in mid-October, following a visit by chief of the air staff Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar to Leonardo sites in Italy. Deliveries will run until 2026, the air force states.

M-346 FA-c-Leonardo

Source: Leonardo

M-346FA is an armed varaint of the advanced jet trainer

Abubakar also stressed the need to establish a maintenance hub in Nigeria to provide long-term support, especially for the M-346 fleet.

In addition to conducting programme review meetings for the M-346FA acquisition, Abubakar also discussed a follow-on purchase of 10 more AW109 Trekker helicopters.

The air force already operates a pair of the skid-equipped light-twins and expects deliveries of the next batch to be complete by early 2026. They will be used for a variety of missions including combat search and rescue and medical evacuation.

Dominic Perry is deputy editor of Flight International but also contributes extensively to flightglobal.com. Although specialising in the coverage of the helicopter industry, he has written on most topics in aerospace – be they commercial, defence or business aviation. In addition, there has been an increasing focus on the decarbonisation of the industry and zero-emission flight initiatives.View full Profile

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