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The Nigerian Navy has taken delivery of three Agusta Westland 109 Trekker helicopters.
The helicopters, which were purchased by the Ministry of Defence, were handed over to the Navy on November 12, 2024.
A statement released on Wednesday by the Director of Naval Information, Commodore A. Adams-Aliu, said the Ministry of Defence handed over the helicopters to the Navy at a brief ceremony in Lagos.
Adams-Aliu said, “The Ministry of Defence handed over three Agusta Westland 109 Trekker helicopters to the Nigerian Navy.
“The brief handover ceremony took place at Ikeja, Lagos. The Chief of the Naval Staff, accompanied by other senior officers, was present to receive the newly acquired helicopters.”
Adams-Aliu added that the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, expressed appreciation to the Ministers of Defence, Abubakar Badaru and Bello Matawelle, for facilitating the procurement of the helicopters.
He said, “The CNS thanked the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu, for his unflinching support to the Armed Forces in general and the Nigerian Navy in particular.
“He also expressed gratitude to both the Honourable Minister of Defence and the Honourable Minister of State for Defence for facilitating the acquisition of the helicopters to enhance NN operations such as air reconnaissance, search and rescue, air insertion, and MEDEVAC.”
Speaking on the capabilities of the helicopters, Adams-Aliu said the AW 109 helicopters are configured for VIP use, with full leather interiors and a noise attenuation system.
He added, “Furthermore, the helicopter is designed with landing skids, which provide better loading capacity compared to wheeled helicopters.
Additionally, it is equipped with auxiliary tanks, which extend its endurance to up to 3 hours 40 minutes.
“Thus, the helicopter could be used for long-range transport flights. The helicopters can also be retrofitted with purpose-built mission equipment.”
