ADF

DEFENCEWEB Tunisia’s Air Force has taken delivery of the first T-6C Texan II training aircraft as part of an order for eight planes. The U.S. company Textron said all eight planes should be delivered by the end of 2023. Training of the initial cadre of pilots began in late 2022 at Textron Aviation Defense facilities in Wichita, Kansas, in the U.S. The Tunisian Air Force is relying on TRU Simulation + Training Inc., an affiliate of Textron, for a suite of training devices and related support. The devices, slated for installation at Sfax air base in Tunisia, include a ground-based…

ADF STAFF The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) is working on using satellite technology to improve the lives of Kenyans.  Brig. Hillary Kipkosgey, acting director of the KSA, said it has invested significantly in projects such as Monitoring for Decisions using Space Technologies to track forest cover, urbanization and for help in planning disaster management.  “KSA believes that space science, technology and applications have the potential to spur economic growth,” Kipkosgey told a gathering during Kenya Innovation Week (KIW) in December 2022 at the Sarit Expo Centre in Nairobi. He gave his keynote address during a KIW sideline event known as…

ADF STAFF Ghana is working to position itself as a continental leader in cybersecurity. The country has created a civilian-led cybersecurity network rooted in the country’s Ministry of Communication, but with key branches in the security and technology sectors. On the front line of Ghana’s ongoing fight against online threats, the Cyber Security Authority, created in 2021, and the National Computer Emergency Response Team track threats in real time and coordinate the response to major events. The authority requires all cybersecurity companies to be licensed and, as of January 1, 2023, began auditing owners of critical information infrastructure to ensure…

ADF STAFF Countries are embracing the use of unmanned aerial and surface vehicles to strengthen their ability to patrol and control their coastal waters. These tools allow for the surveillance and identifying of possible acts of piracy, illegal fishing and trafficking. “One takeaway is the enhanced situational awareness from this technology expanding the range of sight in the field against targets in the field,” Nigerian drone pilot Ebunoluwa George Ojo-ami, a member of the Nigerian Maritime Academy and a volunteer with the Gulf of Guinea Maritime Institute, told ADF. “Compared to manned aircraft, drones offer relatively cheaper cost and can…

ADF STAFF | photos by U.S. NAVY Divers from the U.S. Navy and the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) spent up to eight hours a day in December 2022 removing the wreckage of the Oceans Bounty, a ship that sank in 2018. The Seychelles Police Authority’s chief executive, Sony Payet, said the wreckage was a navigational hazard near Port Victoria and was blocking valuable pier space. “The removal of this wreck is necessary to clear the seabed in this area as the new key wall to be constructed will reach up to this point, and there will be a lot of…

GHANA NAVY Ghana has joined an international network of navies that share select unclassified information related to merchant shipping.  On November 8, 2022, the Ghana Navy signed onto the Virtual-Regional Maritime Traffic Centre and the Trans-Regional Maritime Network in a ceremony aboard the Italian Navy Ship ITS Nave Borsini. The information-sharing system is based on commercial hardware and software developed by the Italian Navy. In a speech before the signing, Rear Adm. Issah Adam Yakubu, Ghana’s chief of Naval Staff, said the Gulf of Guinea faces security challenges, and navies must know what is happening and build capacity through at…

ADF STAFF Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed to create a regional force to intervene when member nations are faced with violent extremism or in the event of coups. The move is intended to “take care of our own security in the region,” Omar Alieu Touray, president of the ECOWAS Commission, told journalists at a December 2022 summit in Nigeria. ECOWAS is “determined to establish a regional force that will intervene in the event of need” to restore constitutional order in member countries, he added. The proposed ECOWAS force would be tasked with countering the…

UNMISS “If we want to truly transform and rebuild this country and a national army, we must listen to the voices of our civilians so we can restore public trust and confidence,” said Capt. Joseph James Mangar, head of the Department of Training and Advocacy on Military Justice of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces at a January 2023 training session in Juba. His statement set the tone for a workshop organized by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Its aim was to create awareness, impart skills and knowledge on human rights, and help the army build productive…

ATMIS Fifty Somali journalists based in Kismayo, Jubaland State, completed a three-day media training seminar to improve media skills and personal safety, and help them professionally report on security in their home state. The Jubaland Ministry of Information and Public Awareness facilitated the training with support from the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS). Journalists from public and private media organizations in Kismayo attended. Training modules included situational awareness, personal safety, media ethics, evolving dynamics in social media, fact-checking and fake news, editorial policies, media bias, and the protection of news sources. Miski Yusuf Ali, director general of the…

MONUSCO Joint patrols between the U.N. Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and Congolese security forces have resumed in Goma and its outskirts after being suspended in the wake of violent protests in mid-2022. The Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and the Congolese National Police are leading the operations. The joint patrols have three purposes: to secure the city of Goma and its surroundings, to guarantee the free movement of civilians, and to ensure rapid intervention in the event of an attack.  Outside Goma, they also aim to keep armed groups away from main…