Nigeria's Air Defence Systems

 

Nigeria bought a lot of military equipment when I was a kid. This was especially so in the period between 1975 and 1985 (when most of the orders were made).

The military governments of that era made it seem as if Nigeria was under threat of imminent attack. Therefore they took steps to protect our national assets. I knew all these facilities that the military governments were trying to protect and I knew which unit was responsible for protecting what.

For example, the Kainji Dam was Nigeria's biggest powet plant at the time (it was later surpassed by the Egbin Power Plant). The Federal Military Government built an air force base at Kainji (with its own runway), it built an army base and it deployed air defence systems to protect the dam. Air defence systems were also deployed to protect the international airports in Lagos and Kano.

I became interested in these things when someone that was in the navy told me that the Nigerian Navy's sea to air missiles were kept at a particular location in Apapa. This was in the early 1980s.

In fact, back then, critics of the Federal Military Government accused the government of spending more on weapons than on education and healthcare.

Nigeria suffered an economic crisis that began in 1982. Military spending reduced after that. Things became worse after the June 12, 1993 elections were annulled. Many countries subsequently imposed sanctions on the Nigerian Military. The supply of military equipment dried up (apart from the 1988 Vickers Main Battle Tank contract).

In more recent times Chinese and European companies have been competiting for contracts to upgrade Nigeria's air defence systems. The Federal Government wants to replace those air defence systems of my childhood and the Chinese and European companies are presenting a range of medium and long range missiles and radar systems. (I have previously created threads about Nigerian officials inspecting these systems in Europe and China).

The military is also working on a total military radar coverage of Nigeria (MTRACON) and these new systems will be used to achieve the objective.

This thread will contain photos and videos of the air defence systems from my childhood and of the new air defence systems that the Nigerian military is considering.