Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Residents of Kaduna are currently awaiting the arrival of President Muhammadu Buhari who is billed to induct newly developed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) at the Nigerian Air Force base Kaduna today.
UAVs include both autonomous drones and remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs). A UAV is capable of controlled, sustained level flight and is powered by a jet, reciprocating, or electric engine.
Conceived and designed by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) as a result of earlier research by Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) based in Kaduna, this UAV is capable of covering a distance of 100 kilometres, stay airborne for 10 hours and consume 23 litres of petrol. It is controlled by the ground control station.
With the passage of AFIT bill into law, the Nigerian-built UAV is a showpiece of sophisticated military hardware that would encourage funding for more research at the Institute and NAF Training Command.
Already, the NAF is currently using drones to fight insurgency in the north-east, this will help in aerial surveillance and send message to ground control station for quick response when necessary.
About 150 officers from various engineering department have been trained both within and outside the country with few partners to come up with this purely Nigerian built UAV.