On the 19th of April 2022, the super mushshak trainer aircraft with two NAF military officers on board crashed at Kaduna with no survivors.
This is one of the 14 Nigeria Air Force aircraft crashes between 2015 and 2022. These aircraft crashes have led to the loss of 15 NAF aircraft worth an estimated $135.13 million. Apart from the financial loss, it has also resulted in the loss of top military personnel.
The Nigerian Air Force is the youngest arm of the Nigerian military and one of the largest in Africa. Nigerian air force ranked 67th in the global air power ranking with a 17.9 true value rating (TvR).
Under the Buhari-led administration, the Nigeria Air force inducted 38 new aircraft into its fleets to strengthen its air power. From 2015 to 2021, the serviceability status increased from 35% in 2015 to about 72% in September 2021.
Data from the World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA) shows that the service has 138 total units in its active aircraft inventory, with excellent readiness units of 110 aircraft, assuming a readiness rate of 80.0%.
The loss of aircrafts could likely impact the country’s future ratings.
Of the 15 incidents, the reported cause of the crash was only available in 12 crashes. Ten out of the twelve crashes were in a non-combatant situation which equals non-combatant crashes of 83.3% out of crashes that took place in the period under review.
Of the non-combatant crashes, one was as a result of human error by the pilot, another because of bad weather. Two aircrafts crash-landed, and another two crashed as a result of airborne technical error. Two aircrafts collided in a training situation, resulting in a crash.
The highest occurrence of crashes were in 2019 and 2021, with four crashes in each. It was only in 2020 that the Nigeria Air Force did not record or report any aircraft mishap.
When the cost of each aircraft lost to crashes is considered, it comes to a total of $135.13 Million.
