ADF

ADF STAFF The U.S. Army has awarded Boeing a contract to produce 12 new CH-47F Chinook helicopters for the Egyptian Air Force.  With the $426 million purchase, Egypt will replace its fleet of CH-47D aircraft with the modern F model, which has advanced multimission technology. “The F-model aircraft will enhance Egypt’s Chinook capabilities and help effectively accomplish its heavy-lift objectives,” said Ken Eland, Boeing vice president and H-47 program manager. “Boeing’s partnership with the Egyptian Air Force remains strong as we continue to work together to modernize their fleet.” The first Chinook was introduced in 1962. The Boeing CH-47 Chinook…

ADF STAFF Nigeria’s National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) is pushing to produce military weapons, vehicles and equipment that are “Made in Nigeria” to support the fight against extremist groups, bandits and other security threats.  Olusegun Ayeoyenikan, deputy director in charge of information at NASENI, said the Nigerian Army Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers took on one of the first projects to produce a 12.7 mm anti-aircraft gun. Other projects will include armored personnel carriers, unmanned aerial vehicles and light weapons for military use.  “The Agency had begun collaboration with some indigenous industries and research institutions as…

ADF STAFF An Egyptian company has unveiled a domestically made command, control, communication, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR) system. The system works with defense systems from around the world, an important attribute for countries such as Egypt that buy equipment from a variety of global manufacturers. ACME SAICO presented the system at the International Defense Expo in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. According to the website Breaking Defense, Egypt has struggled to coordinate the operations of its defense systems since the 1970s because of their different origins. This includes aircraft, air defense systems, naval systems and others.  The new…

ADF STAFF As internet use grows in West Africa, leaders are calling for better regional cooperation on cybersecurity. A joint approach can protect citizens, businesses, government institutions and critical infrastructure from online attacks, according to cybersecurity expert Folake Olagunju. “It has to be a whole society approach,” Olagunju said during a podcast interview with the EU International Partners Academy. Olagunju is the program officer for internet and cybersecurity at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Since 2019, internet use across West Africa has grown by about 25%. That growth has been unevenly distributed across the region, with a…

ADF STAFF Authorities seized 3,000 rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and antitank missiles from a fishing vessel in the Gulf of Oman on January 15, 2023. The Iranian weapons were destined for the Houthi militia in Yemen. Eleven days earlier, officials intercepted 2,000 assorted Iranian weapons bound for Yemen on a fishing vessel in the same area, according to the Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre (RMIFC) in Madagascar. Without vessel information the center shared with local authorities, some of the weapons might have wound up in Somalia and sold to violent extremist groups such as al-Shabaab and the Islamic…

ADF STAFF The Tanzania Navy deployed a vessel in the Mozambique Channel to help the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and international partners address an array of sea crimes, including illegal fishing, drug smuggling, oil theft, and human and weapons trafficking. Although piracy has declined in the region, limited maritime security along the channel leaves coastal cities and island states vulnerable to maritime threats. The channel, a 1,600-kilometer-long waterway between Madagascar and East Africa that carries about 30% of global tanker traffic, is a major route for drug, weapons and human trafficking, illicit trades that are widely believed to help…

U.N. PEACEKEEPING The Egyptian Formed Police Unit, deployed in Douentza, Mali, as part of the U.N. mission (MINUSMA) in 2017, set up three teams to tackle the threat of improvised explosive devices (IED). One of them was composed entirely of female police officers and was the first such search and detect team deployed in a U.N. peace operation. The teams are trained to identify IEDs so that ordnance disposal experts can safely remove them. The Douentza team worked close to dirt roads used by civilians who often are targeted by terrorists and armed groups. From 2020 to 2021, the country…

U.N. PEACEKEEPING To fulfill their mandate of protecting civilians, peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) often face danger in remote areas, with limited access to medical services. A light mobile surgical module deployed with the Malawi Battalion has significantly improved the safety and security of peacekeepers. Operating 24 hours a day, the light mobile surgical module has a static and mobile component run by 31 peacekeepers. The static component works as a referral medical center for Level 1 hospitals and has an operating theater, emergency area, radiology, laboratory, pharmacy…

Failures of United Nations peacekeeping missions have been highly publicized, but recent studies show reason for optimism. The evidence, collected in 16 peer-reviewed studies, shows that peacekeepers significantly reduce civilian casualties, shorten conflicts and help make peace agreements stick. In fact, the majority of U.N. peacekeeping missions succeed in their primary goal, which is stabilizing societies and ending war. “If we look systematically across the record, most of the time peacekeeping works.” That’s the verdict of Professor Lise Howard of Georgetown University. Her book, “Power in Peacekeeping,” is based on extensive field research across different U.N. missions. “If we look…

ADF STAFF Indonesian Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi and his Guinean counterpart Felix Lamah have signed a letter of intent, the first step in the two countries’ commitment to explore cooperation in the aviation sector. It is an unusual proposition, as the two countries are 13,700 kilometers apart. The initial idea for the cooperation came in September 2022, according to aerospace newsletter The Bulletin. Guinea acknowledged its need to modernize its commercial and transport sector and expressed interest in cooperating with Indonesia. In a written statement, the Indonesian transport minister said that after receiving the Guinean transport minister in Jakarta,…