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Abuja, Nigeria’s seat of power is known to
play host to important meetings. But that of
Wednesday, November 24, involving defence chiefs and bigwigs from The Presidency was crucial. Top on the agenda were proposals for the overhaul of the nation’s air defence system. Specifically, the meeting was summoned at the instance of President Obasanjo to consider the fine details of deals already secured from some foreign military hardware vendors to overhaul and upgrade the 23 MIG-21 BIS combat aircraft in the Nigerian Air Force NAF inventory. These Soviet-made warplanes, the production of which stopped in 1985, were sold to Nigerian in the 1970s but had been grounded since 1988. And going by information made available by Russian Aircraft Company, MIG, the aircraft designer and manufacturer, the lifespan of the Nigerian MIG-21s will expire in 2005. Thereafter it will become dangerous to fly the aircraft unless the lifespan is extended through an upgrade.
Perhaps, in realisation of this fact, coupled with the exigencies of the nation’s air defence objectives, Isaac Alfa, retired air marshal and former chief of air staff, initiated a proposal to revive the grounded MIG-21s. The process was kick-started with calls for quotation from competent foreign military hardware vendors. Initially, five companies responded. These include Israeli Aircraft Industries, IAI; Rosoboronexport of Russia/Midwest Aviation Trading Limited; Elbit Systems of Israel; Elto/Aerostar S.A. of Romania and Sokol/MIG/MAPO/Russian Aircraft Corporation (RAC-MIG).
The proposals were subjected to thorough evaluation by a team of directors at the defence Headquarters. Jonah Wuyep, the incumbent chief of air staff, who was air officer operations, AOO, at the time, had the privilege of leading a team of air officers to review the evaluation report prepared by the directors.
Elbit of Israel the job of upgrading the MIG-21s of the Romanian Air Force,” he wrote.
His views were corroborated by another evaluation panel set up by the defence headquarters. The 12-man committee headed by J. I. Edokpayi, a major-general, after detailed study of the evaluation report recommended three companies; Elbit of Israel, IAI of Israel and Sokol/MIG MAPO and RAC MIG in that order, as being technically competent to handle the upgrade.
In respect of Elto/Aerostar, it observed that its ability to handle the contract was doubtful. In their opinion, the government of Romania would not have contracted Elbit, a foreign firm to handle the upgrade of their MIG-21 Lancer aircraft if Aerostar had been adjudged as competent for the job.
This was in January 2001. Ironically, going into last week’s crucial meeting, two proposals were on the table. They were from C.N. Romtehnica S.A. Romania which has offered to sell 23 upgraded MIG 21 Lancer aircraft to NAF and Aerostar A.S. of Romania which equally submitted proposal to upgrade NAF’s 23 MIG-21 aircraft and supply 3 upgraded MIG-21. But Aerostar A.S. of Romania, which was consistently adjudged as incompetent during the preliminary stages of the contract process, appears to have emerged as the hot favourite to land the juicy upgrade contract. Why the sudden change in fortune? Tell learnt that the whole contract process was suspiciously fuzzy. In the four years since the bid for the lucrative contract was flagged off, the evaluation and negotiations had taken a dangerous trajectory with series of dramatic twists and turns.
However, based on ELTO’s proposals, the defence ministry dispatched a team to Romania to determine the extent of upgrading and operational suitability of the aircraft for use by NAF. The five-man team was led by Paul Dike, an air vice-marshal and former head of the Presidential fleet who is now air officer commanding, AOC, Tactical Command, Makurdi.
The team visited Romtehnica, a Romania-based firm authorised to export military hardware on behalf of the Romanian government and Aerostar S.A., the firm that performed the upgrade of 110 MIG-21 for the Romanian Air Force. The team observed, among others that Aerostar S.A. had the facilities and manpower to maintain the MIG-21 aircraft but was silent on its qualification to handle an upgrade. In comparison to the Nigerian MIG-21 aircraft, the team observed that the upgraded Romanian version had the advantage of a more advanced avionics and better weapons delivery system. But these strength were cancelled out by their rather disconcerting observations that, “the modified aircraft is old, extensively operated and the lifespan would expire in less than 6 years.”
The stakes were raised a few notches by the Romanians in June this year when C.N. Romtehnica S.A. of Romania suddenly appeared on the scene with a seemingly attractive offer to offload 23 tokunbo MIG 21 lancer aircraft from the fleet of the Romanian Air Force to NAF. In a letter to the Nigerian President dated August 27, 2004 and signed by Aurel Cazacu, the general director of Romtehnica, the company told Obasanjo that the MIG-21 lancer had been overhauled to a level of capability that allows it to outmatch most of today’s frontline aircraft with the exception of Euro fighter, Eagle and Hornet. The President was impressed enough by the quotation of $116.5 million for 19 upgraded MIG 21 single seater and four double seater to request Kwankwaso to pursue the matter with a view to securing a better deal. What the President did not know was the fact that the Romtehnica offer was not exactly new. It is just the Elto proposal in another garb. But this fact has been kept away from President Obasanjo who is unaware of the Elto proposals and the subsequent reservations raised against it by the Dike team. Meanwhile, Romtehnca has appointed Sani Dangote as honorary consult to help push through the deal.
TELL learnt that the President’s interest in the Romtehnica deal came to the Russians with surprise more so as top defence chiefs, including the chief of air staff, had allegedly continued to rebuff their offer for negotiation. As the main supplier of most of the nation’s military hardware from combat aircraft to armoured tanks and assault rifles, the Russians could not comprehend the sudden preference for the Romanians even when circumstantial evidence suggested caution. Some of the questions raised by the Russians for which they have not secured answers are why Nigeria will prefer a Romanian company to the Russian manufacturer of the MIG-21 aircraft for the overhaul and upgrade of the aircraft. Also, they wonder why Nigeria is hedging to take advantage of its offer to guarantee spare parts for the MIG-21 the production of which stopped in 1985. The equally drew attention to the unenviable safety record of the upgraded Romanian Air Force MIG-21 MF. Till date, twenty-two of the upgraded Romanian MIG-21 lancer aircraft have reportedly crashed in the past 15 years with eight pilots losing their lives in the process. Moreover, about 50 percent of the 110 MIG 21 lancer aircraft believed to have been upgraded by the Romanians are said to be grounded for lack of spare parts.
TELL learnt that Wuyep’s latest memo which is a complete summersault in his position on the MIG-21 upgrade contract earned the air force chief a query from the President. Defence sources said the President was livid when Wuyep’s original recommendation on Aerostar was brought to his attention by a senior security aide in the Presidency. The President who could not reconcile Wuyep’s recent memo with his original position on the upgrade contract, which catalogued the incompetence of the Romanians, exclaimed that “something was fishy about the Romanian proposal and that there is need for further investigation.” He nevertheless gave the delegation the go ahead to visit Romania but should not commit Nigeria to any agreement. The President reportedly insisted that in executing the contract, the nation must get value for its money. TELL could not reach the chief of air staff last week despite several efforts. Though the air force spokesman assured of a definite response to our written enquiry, latest Thursday, but the response never came. However, a source close to the air force chief, however absolved him of any wrong doing in the scam. His words: “Contracts are awarded by the Ministry of Defence and not the chief of air staff, CAS. CAS is not even a member of the tenders board nor is he a party to the selection of the contractor that eventually won the contact. The minister of defence, his staff and only one air force officer visited the companies.”
But an aide of the air force chief directed the magazine to the Ministry of Defence, which he claimed is directly in charge of such transactions.
Toryanin further drew the President’s attention to the fact that the MIG-21s in the fleet of both the Romanian and NAF inventory have limited lifespan and only the Russian Aircraft Company, MIG, the manufacturers, can extend their lifespan. By implication, this means that any MIG-21 aircraft upgraded under the Aerostar/Elto programme will only fly until 2005, Toryamin, however assures that will a Russian upgrade, Nigeria can fly the MIG-21 aircraft up till 2040.
If Aerostar cannot execute a programme of lifespan extension on the MIG 21 what is the wisdom of investing millions of dollars in the upgrade? Will it also be wise to import tokunbo MIG-21 aircraft form Romania when that country’s chief of staff, Gheorghe Catrina, a lieutenant-general has been reported as saying that the air force will replace the 100 Elbit modernised MIG-21 with new fighters? Will the nation’s air defence objectives be served with the importation of fighter jets that are destined for the war museum? These are questions that the leadership of NAF and the ministry of defence will have to answer. As defence chiefs rose from last Wednesday’s meeting, TELL learnt that a final decision will be taken in a few days or weeks on which company to recommend to the President for the upgrade or the purchase of upgraded ones, which one? The nation waits for the President as he cogitates on which option best serves the security of our airspace.
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