Nigerian Air Force Reveals Plan for Up to 67 New Aircraft

The Nigerian Air Force has disclosed an expanded modernisation list that could add up to 67 manned and unmanned aircraft to its fleet, spanning Italian jets, Turkish drones and helicopters, American gunships and Chinese UAVs. The infographic, released to mark Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke’s first year in charge, is a statement of intent rather than a confirmed order book.

Photo: Leonardo M-346FA light attack aircraft, the fighter-attack variant Nigeria has ordered. Credit: KrzywoProsto, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) published a fleet-expansion infographic on 25 October 2026 to mark the first anniversary of Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, who took over the service on 30 October 2025 under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. defenceWeb reported that the document lists close to 67 additional manned and unmanned aircraft the service expects to field, covering eight separate programmes with suppliers in Italy, the United States, Türkiye, China and elsewhere. Crucially, neither the statement nor the infographic gives contract status, financing or delivery dates for most of the items — the list reads as an aspiration rather than a signed order book.

What is on the list

According to the NAF’s own breakdown, as reported by defenceWeb, the expected additions are:

• 24 Leonardo M-346FA light attack and advanced jet trainers (Italy)
• 12 Bell AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters (United States)
• 12 TUSAŞ Aksungur medium-altitude, long-endurance UAVs (Türkiye)
• 6 TAI/Turkish Aerospace T129 ATAK attack helicopters (Türkiye), on top of the batch already received in 2024
• 7 Leonardo AW109 Trekker B light utility helicopters (Italy)
• 3 Airbus C295 tactical transports (France/Spain)
• 2 CASC CH-4D armed UAVs (China)
• 1 Airbus H225 multi-role helicopter

Most of these programmes are already under way in some form. Nigeria confirmed its order for 24 M-346FAs in 2020 and the first airframes have been completing acceptance testing in Italy, as DefenceMENA has reported; NAF technicians have also been training on the type’s maintenance procedures at Leonardo’s Venegono Superiore site, covered in a separate DefenceMENA report. The AH-1Z Viper order, valued at roughly $997 million, was detailed by DefenceMENA as covering a dozen gunships plus munitions and support. The T129 ATAK figures in the new list build on Nigeria’s existing fleet, the background to which DefenceMENA has explained in depth. The Aksungur order would be new: Nigeria currently flies the smaller TAI Anka, and a move to the heavier, twin-engine Aksungur — which can carry stand-off munitions as well as sensors — would mark a step up in strike-capable UAV range and payload, a trend DefenceMENA has tracked across other African Anka and Aksungur operators.

Recent deliveries and maintenance push

The infographic was accompanied by a progress report covering the twelve months since Aneke took command. Three AW109 Trekker Bs and two Airbus H125 light helicopters were delivered in September 2026, which the NAF says have strengthened its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, armed escort, close air support and combat search-and-rescue coverage. Separately, six ageing L-39ZA jet trainers are being reactivated and overhauled in Slovakia and at NAF facilities in Nigeria, with two expected to return to service by the end of October 2026; one ATR surveillance aircraft is being reactivated in Abuja, and a C-130 Hercules is undergoing periodic depot maintenance in Portugal. The NAF says it logged more than 6,100 flying hours and 2,900 sorties between November 2025 and September 2026 across precision strikes, armed reconnaissance, surveillance and close air support — a tempo consistent with the service’s continuing operations against insurgents in the north-east and armed groups elsewhere in the country.

Why it matters for Africa

Nigeria already operates one of the most diverse combat air fleets on the continent, and this list — even in aspirational form — illustrates how far that diversification has gone. Unlike air forces that standardise around one or two suppliers, the NAF is simultaneously running Italian jets, Turkish drones and helicopters, American gunships, Chinese UAVs and European transports, a mix that gives it flexibility and bargaining power with suppliers but also multiplies the logistics, spares and training burden on a service already short of serviceable airframes. For Türkiye, the list is a marker of how deep its defence-industrial footprint in West Africa has become: Ankara’s T129 and Aksungur lines sit alongside the Bayraktar TB2s and Akıncı drones already in Nigerian and regional service, reinforcing Türkiye’s position as the continent’s fastest-growing supplier of combat UAVs and attack helicopters. For the wider Gulf of Guinea security picture, any real delivery of 12 more AH-1Z gunships and a dozen Aksungur UAVs — both systems with genuine strike range — would materially extend Nigeria’s ability to project airpower against Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province and armed groups in the North West, making the gap between this “expected” list and an actual funded contract the detail regional security planners will be watching most closely.

What is still unconfirmed

defenceWeb’s reporting is explicit that the infographic does not disclose whether any of the newer items — the Aksungur UAVs, the additional T129s, the CH-4Ds, the C295s or the H225 — have moved beyond a wish list to a signed contract. Nigeria’s defence procurement has a track record of long gaps between an announced requirement and a delivered aircraft, as the M-346FA and AH-1Z programmes themselves show. DefenceMENA will track any confirmation of financing, contract signature or first deliveries tied to this list in future coverage.

Sources

• defenceWeb: “New aircraft set to significantly bolster NAF combat capabilities”
• Envanter Medya: AKSUNGUR deliveries and Turkish Naval Forces usage