ADF

DEFENCEWEB Boeing has started manufacturing the first of 24 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters for Morocco ahead of deliveries to the North African nation beginning in 2024.  Preparations are underway at the Khouribga military base to accommodate the new Apaches. Morocco in June 2020 ordered 24 AH-64Es in a deal worth $440 million after requesting the aircraft in late 2019. The contract is expected to conclude by March 2025. Boeing is building the new Moroccan Apaches under a contract with the U.S. Army through the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Sales process. The AH-64E that Morocco has ordered features an improved modern…

DEFENCEWEB Alexandria Shipyard has launched the Egyptian Navy’s first locally built Meko A200 frigate, the fourth overall for the North African nation. The Al-Jabbar was launched on December 4, 2023, with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi attending the ceremony. Alexandria Shipyard said manufacture and assembly of the first Meko A200 took two years. Egypt has positioned itself among the few countries to manufacture large military vessels, it said. “Today we celebrate the inauguration and launching of the first Meko A200 stealth frigate by 100% Egyptian hands.” The shipyard added that “the launching and sailing of Egyptian frigates are now an undeniable…

The Nigerian Navy aims to use artificial intelligence to strengthen its operational capacity and keep pace with evolving technological advancements in the maritime industry.  Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Adm. Emmanuel Ogalla made the announcement during the presentation of a paper by navy participants at the National Defence College. Ogalla said the Nigerian Navy is embracing AI because it and other emerging technologies increasingly are used in ship construction. “The Nigerian Navy must continue to adopt and integrate these technologies in order to maintain a competitive edge during operations,” Ogalla said in a report by Nigerian newspaper Leadership. AI…

ADF STAFF Sea crimes are a constant threat to coastal countries. Pirate attacks are increasing off the coast of Somalia. The Gulf of Guinea remains the world’s epicenter of illegal fishing. Other crimes, including oil theft, drug smuggling, and human and weapons trafficking, are rife in continental waters. Cobus Valentine, chief commercial officer of Global Command and Control Technologies, recently encouraged authorities concerned with maritime domain awareness to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help monitor their waters. Valentine spoke at the Ocean Economy Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, in late May. “Artificial intelligence is transforming how we approach these…

ADF STAFF The Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) terror group claimed responsibility for the June 11 attack on a Burkina Faso military base in Mansila that killed more than 100 Soldiers and several civilians. It was the deadliest assault on the Burkinabe military since 2015. One day later, a rocket hit the parking area of the state-run TV Radiodiffusion Télévision Burkinabé (RTB), in Ouagadougou, the national capital. No one was killed in the blast, although some people were injured. Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, Burkina Faso’s junta leader, downplayed the incident, saying people guarding the station launched the rocket by mistake, the…

ADF STAFF After attending the 2023 African Chiefs of Defense Conference in Rome, Botswana Defence Force Commander Lt. Gen. Placid Segokgo looked forward to hosting it one year later. It would be the first time the annual gathering took place on the continent. “Your presence here today demonstrates your commitment to ensuring not only continental peace and security but also world peace and security, which are fundamental to sustainable social economic development,” Segokgo said in an opening ceremony address to 42 of Africa’s defense chiefs. “[This] conference offers military leaders an opportunity to learn from fellow commanders’ personal experiences from…

ADF STAFF Terrorists have left northern Benin and established a new base in northern Nigeria’s Kainji Lake National Park, a 5,300-square-kilometer former tourist attraction. The park, home to one of West Africa’s fast-declining lion populations, is currently closed and the security situation there is “getting out of hand,” Kars de Bruijne, a senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute, told The Associated Press. It is “a much more explosive situation than we had anticipated,” added de Bruijne, who co-authored a new report on the situation. Violent extremist organizations have operated in the park since at least 2021, but there have been increased…

ADF STAFF Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the military leader in eastern Libya, is consolidating power within his family by appointing his sons to key positions in his so-called Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF). His youngest son, 33-year-old Saddam Haftar, has been elevated to the post of chief of staff of the land forces and is his father’s likeliest successor. Another son, Khaled, has been appointed to lead the security units of the LAAF. A third son, Belgacem, oversees the Haftar-controlled Libyan Development and Reconstruction Fund created by the House of Representatives that governs the eastern half of the divided nation.…

ADF STAFF A deadly attack by M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that killed two South African Soldiers is raising questions about whether the Southern African Development Community peacekeeping force (SAMIDRC) should continue. Ten members of the peacekeeping mission have died since the group entered the eastern DRC in February to replace troops from the East African Community. Six of the dead were South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops. More than 30 South African Soldiers have been injured in the fighting, some critically. M23 captured two SANDF vehicles in June. South Africa has committed 2,900…

ADF STAFF Among a handful of prisoners of war captured in Ukraine after fighting for Russia, a young Somali man stood out. He said he joined the army to give his family a “good future,” and was told he would be a “helper” doing logistics and first aid. He did not expect to be sent to the front lines. “I didn’t know that I would be in the first line,” the unidentified man said during a news conference in Kyiv on March 15. “I was just dropped there without … knowing the language.” Another man from Sierra Leone wiped tears…