ADF

ADF STAFF In August 2022, an audio recording went viral on WhatsApp and social media networks in Burkina Faso. The message called on “indigenous” Burkinabé to rise up and exterminate members of the Fulani ethnic group. Lionel Bilgo, a government spokesman, called the recording “chilling.” “These are extremely serious words that are equivalent to the excesses of the Radio Mille Collines that led to the Rwandan genocide, one of humanity’s worst tragedies,” he wrote. The incident was not isolated. Across the continent, clashes between Fulani herders and farming communities are fueling hatred and spawning wider violence. As Fulanis are isolated…

Maj. Gen. Hendrick Thuthu Rakgantswana became chief of Botswana’s Air Arm Command in 2021 after serving in the Air Force since 1986. Rakgantswana has served as squadron commander of the Fixed-Wing Air Mobility Squadron and has piloted the presidential jet. He also has been Air Force director of operations and base commander at Thebephatshwa Air Base, the Botswana Defence Force’s main air base, about 100 kilometers outside the capital, Gaborone. Rakgantswana spoke with ADF on February 28, 2023, the first day of the African Air Chiefs Symposium, in Dakar, Senegal. His remarks have been edited for length and clarity.  ADF:…

ADF STAFF Northeast Nigeria’s famed Sambisa Forest is known for its low-profile trees and dense thickets, punishing anyone foolish enough to traverse it without a machete. It spreads across 512 square kilometers in Borno State and has served as a refuge for Boko Haram and associated militants. For years, Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have used the unforgiving forest as a base of operations. Boko Haram kidnapped young girls and hid in the forest. Militants would emerge from the bush, attack security forces and disappear into its cover. In the past several years, however, Nigerian…

African nations have spent years working to equip Somalia’s fledgling government to achieve stability. As the African Union peacekeeping mission gave way to the AU Transition Mission in Somalia, the work has continued. Women have been an essential element of that effort. Lance Cpl. Dorine Chekwemboi, a Ugandan tank driver serving in the mission in Mogadishu, and her colleagues continue to contribute to peace and security as Somalia begins to take more control of its future.

ADF STAFF Modern fighter jets are marvels of power and complexity. Armed with air-to-air missiles, they can reach speeds of 1,600 kilometers per hour. They are also stunningly expensive. The current generation of fighter jets start at about $100 million each, and it is estimated that each plane will cost $1 billion in operational expenses and maintenance over the course of its optimal life span. There’s also the matter of usefulness. In anything less than air combat and missile strikes, a fighter jet is overkill. Since the end of the Cold War, air forces have seldom flown in heavily contested…

As South Sudanese peacekeepers walked off a Kenya Air Force C-27J Spartan military transport aircraft in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), they were fulfilling a pledge.  South Sudan’s president had promised to send 750 troops to take part in the East African Community Regional Force. Their arrival in Goma on April 2 and 3, 2023, meant the mission, designed to bring peace to the volatile eastern DRC, had reached full deployment.  For South Sudan, a country that has hosted foreign peacekeepers since its independence, the ability to send troops abroad was a milestone.  “We are very proud today…

ADF STAFF Nigeria deploys drones at border crossings to increase security along its porous frontier and to identify potential threats while they’re still several kilometers away. The Orion drones, manufactured by the French-American company Elistair, operate at the end of a 100-meter Kevlar cord. The tether provides power for up to 50 hours of flight time and secure, unjammable communication with operators. The drones are part of Nigeria’s fleet of unmanned vehicles that makes it one of the continent’s major players in drone technology. The terrorists that Nigerian authorities are looking for likely are watching them with drones of their…

ADF staff The South African Air Force is one of the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its fighter jet fleet is among the most advanced overall on the continent, consisting of Saab JAS 39 Gripens. The air fleet includes 15 attack helicopters. But as of mid-2023, half of the Gripens were grounded. And the most important helicopters in the fleet, the Oryx transport and Rooivalk attack helicopters, were largely grounded as well. Of the 11 airframes in the Rooivalk fleet, only four were serviceable, with seven either unserviceable or undergoing maintenance, defenceWeb reported. Of the 23 engines in the fleet, only…

DEFENCEWEB Benin has added five helicopters — three H215 Super Pumas and two H125Ms — to its air fleet. The helicopters will be used for counterterrorism in Benin’s northwest, where 3,000 Soldiers are deployed to fight extremists as part of Operation Mirador, which began in 2022. Government troops, aircraft and armored vehicles have been deployed on the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger. The Airbus H215 Super Puma originally was developed and built by the French aerospace company Aérospatiale. It is now built by Eurocopter and Airbus Helicopters. It is a medium-sized utility helicopter and is a larger version of…

ADF STAFF | photos by CHRISTOPHER GARDNER, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS  To help Benin combat piracy and other maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea, the U.S. government delivered a new patrol vessel to the country in December 2022. The U.S. also helped build a new boathouse, maintenance shop and launch ramp to accommodate the vessel. Training was provided to the Beninese Special River and Maritime Police Unit (USPFM) through U.S. Africa Command. “The Gulf of Guinea has some of the highest incidents of maritime piracy in the world, and prior to receiving the vessel and other aspects of…