Nigeria and Uganda are set to receive Aerosonde Mk 4.7 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from the United States in an effort to develop surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) on May 8 announced that the contract for the UAVs were placed with Textron Systems for $25 610 000 firm-fixed-price contract for three Aerosonde Mk 4.7 systems, spares, logistics and training for Nigeria.
The work will be performed in Nigeria, with a scheduled completion date of September 30, 2021, the DoD said.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) also is investing heavily in UAVs and is developing its own intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance UAV, named the Tsaigumi, which was unveiled in February 2018.
In February, 2020, NAF highlighted that it had trained 20 personnel in India and the United States on how to operate UAVs. This included 12 personnel trained as software developers in the US and eight in India on cyber security.
DoD of also announced that Textron was awarded a $20 780 000 firm-fixed-price contract for two Aerosonde Mk 4.7 systems, spares and training for Uganda. The scheduled completion date of the project is 30 September 2022.
A Look at Aerosonde Mk 4.7 UAV
- Designed for expeditionary land- and sea-based operations
- Equipped for simultaneous day/night full-motion video
- Equipped with communications relay and signals intelligence payloads in a single flight.
- Has synthetic aperture radar, electronic warfare, signals intelligence, communications intelligence
- Equipped with 3D mapping and Automatic Identification System (AIS).
- Has a wingspan of 3.7 metres,
- A range of 140 km,
- Endurance of 14 hours, service ceiling of 4 600 metres
- Payload of 9.1 kg.
The Aerosonde Mk 4.7 was unveiled in March 2009 and has been deployed by the US military.
