L
LequteMan
Guest
There has been a lot of happy exclamations when reports say Nigeria has just acquired two Mi-24 helicopters from Ukraine which is undergoing upgraded by a South African firm to Super Hinds- but findings reveal this might not be the case.
The Nigerian army is in a face-off with Boko Haram insurgents in the country's north and arrival of the Super Hind would've been a huge boost for the army.
The Super Hind is a comprehensive upgrade package for older Mi-24s, created by Advanced Technologies and Engineering (ATE) of South Africa. The company is now part of the Paramount Group as their Advanced Technologies division.
However, AfricanDefence.net says the helicopters actually belonged to the Algerian Air Force, which has been sending a pair of Super Hinds at a time to Aviakon to be refurbished and upgraded under a contract signed in 2013. Algeria upgraded 34 Mi-24s to the Super Hind MkIII standard in the early 2000s.
A Paramount Group spokesperson said Paramount Advanced Technologies was not contracted by the Nigerian government for any Mi-24 upgrades.
Akram Kharief, an Algerian defence analyst with close contact to the Algerian Air Force also confirmed that the Super Hinds belongs to Algeria.
There are speculations that Nigeria would be obtaining the IPZ NP-B laser designator, but a news item from IPZ themselves make it clear that their first Mi-24 upgrade with the NP-B, and potentially the TITAN 410 SD, is Algeria.
#Nigeria #SuperHind #Algeria
The Nigerian army is in a face-off with Boko Haram insurgents in the country's north and arrival of the Super Hind would've been a huge boost for the army.
The Super Hind is a comprehensive upgrade package for older Mi-24s, created by Advanced Technologies and Engineering (ATE) of South Africa. The company is now part of the Paramount Group as their Advanced Technologies division.
However, AfricanDefence.net says the helicopters actually belonged to the Algerian Air Force, which has been sending a pair of Super Hinds at a time to Aviakon to be refurbished and upgraded under a contract signed in 2013. Algeria upgraded 34 Mi-24s to the Super Hind MkIII standard in the early 2000s.
A Paramount Group spokesperson said Paramount Advanced Technologies was not contracted by the Nigerian government for any Mi-24 upgrades.
Akram Kharief, an Algerian defence analyst with close contact to the Algerian Air Force also confirmed that the Super Hinds belongs to Algeria.
There are speculations that Nigeria would be obtaining the IPZ NP-B laser designator, but a news item from IPZ themselves make it clear that their first Mi-24 upgrade with the NP-B, and potentially the TITAN 410 SD, is Algeria.
#Nigeria #SuperHind #Algeria