NAF lost radar contact with an Alpha Jet conducting a routine mission on Wednesday evening in the Sambisa forest area of Northeast Nigeria. This is what happened to the jet.
A ball of explosion covers a Nigerian Air Force Alpha Jet. Screenshot from a propaganda video released April 2021
Boko Haram faction led by Abubakar Shekau released a video on Friday showing the downing of a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Alpha Jet which exploded mid-air.
The seven minutes 30 seconds-long video showed the Alpha Jet flying low over a battlefield arena with multiple Boko Haram fighters engaging in fierce and uncoordinated firefights.
Alpha Jet spiralling to the floor.
The insurgents will be visible firing what was in all likelihood a heavy machine gun (anti-plane gun) closer to the fight aircraft. Then the pictures of a fireball explosion can be seen, as the Alpha Jet headed rapidly towards the floor.
Fighters in the end moved to the area of the crash and started out removing components of the plane and the pilots’ private assets.
Insurgents getting rid of aircraft element
The video additionally confirmed a masked fighter armed with a belt-fed gadget gun standing at the aircraft debris, and talking each Arabic and English.
A Boko Haram fighter armed with a machine gun stands at the aircraft particles.
Multiple Boko Haram fighters had gun trucks, motorcycles, AK sample rifles, belt-fed machines and what appeared to be at least one OTO Melara M56 105mm howitzer improvised into a cell artillery device and Suicide Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (SBVIEDs) type car.
What seems to be a 105mm artillery machine.
This incident increases protection concerns on each navy and humanitarian plane flying over the battle region. It is uncertain if the crash turned into caused by the anti-aircraft gun or a weapon machine the group did no longer show inside the video.
Fighter with an RPG-backed Boko Haram gun truck.
The Alpha Jet is a sophisticated instructor and attack plane that has served in the NAF inventory for almost 30 years, with the Air Force receiving new deliveries of the assault (A) variants in 2015 and 2018 from the United States of America. The crashed NAF 475 Alpha Jet is from that batch.
NAF Alpha jet armed with rocket pod
The Alpha Jets are usually equipped with Soviet rocket pods and unguided bombs used for focused on ground targets.
NAF had misplaced radar touch with an Alpha Jet undertaking a habitual project in aid of ground troops on Wednesday nighttime in the Sambisa forest area of Borno State, Northeast Nigeria.
Earlier today, the Air Force Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, found out the identities of the pilots as Flight Lieutenant John Abolarinwa and Flight Lieutenant Ebiakpo Chapele.
“At this factor, the NAF isn't always ruling out something regarding the incident. It however remains hopeful that the team might soon be located and rescued,” he had said before Boko Haram’s video surfaced.
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