The Nigerian Navy has taken delivery of three Leonardo A-109 Trekker helicopters from Caverton helicopters Nigeria Limited.
Yesterday, Tuesday 12 November 2024, the Ministry of Defence, handed-over three Agusta Westland (A-109) Trekker Helicopters to the Nigerian Navy.
The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla accompanied by other senior officers were present to receive the newly acquired helicopters.
Also present at the hand-over ceremony were the Permanent Secretary MOD, Dr Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, Director Navy Affairs MOD, Dr Raji Isiaka Ogunshola, the President Caverton Group, Chief Remi Makanjuola and the Managing Director Caverton, Group Captain Bello (rtd).
The A-109 Helicopter has a purpose-built VIP configuration with a full leather and noise attenuation system, according to the statement.
The helicopters are designed with a landing skid which gives it a better loading capacity compared to wheeled helicopters.
“Additionally, the helicopters are designed with auxiliary tanks which give them extended endurance of up to 3hrs40mins,”
“Thus, the helicopter could be used for long-range transport flights. The helicopters could also be retrofitted with purpose-built mission equipment.”
The hand over ceremony was done at the Caverton Helicopters Limited (CHL) hangar facilities in Ikeja, Lagos
The helicopters were given the serial number NN501, NN502, NN503.
Apparently, NN503 is brand new, while NN501 and NN502 helicopters, are secondhand, and were previously registered in Cambodia as XU-035 and XU-045.
XU-035 and XU-045 were sold to the United States, and re-registered as N199RR and N399RR before being sold to Caverton.
Acceptance inspection and test flight for NN503 was carried out in 2-10 September 2023 in Vergiate Manufacturing Plant, Italy.
In 12 September 2023, NN503 was flown from Leonardo manufacturing plant in Italy, by Nigerian Navy Helicopter Captain, Commander PC Onah, and another pilot from Caverton. They arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on 24 September, 2023, after 12 days of flight, 11 country stops, and 41 hours 55 minutes of flight hours.
The Nigerian Navy is a prior user of the A-109 helicopter, in 2021, the naval branch ordered for three AW-109SP GrandNew helicopters, with the first delivered in January 2023, and the second is arrived by May, while the third was delivered September 2023.
The Leonardo A-109 Light Utility Helicopters is supplied to the nation’s armed forces to enhance their capacity on the battle fields and will be deployed to complement the air power in various operations across the country.
Earlier in May 2021, as part of the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure (NIMASA deep blue project), three AW-109SP GrandNew (with serial NN313, NN314, NN315) were delivered to NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy at naval air base Ojo, Lagos.
In total, the Nigerian Navy currently operates around 15 Leonardo A-109 series helicopters.
Meanwhile, this August, Caverton Aviation Training Centre (CATC) has announced the commencement of the Augusta Westland (A-109) Pilot Flight Simulator and Line Training for the Nigerian Navy. This training taking place at the CATC facility, is being conducted in collaboration with Leonardo.
Also, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is expecting the delivery of 12 x AW 109 TrekkerM armed helicopters from Leonardo as well.
In December 2018, The Nigerian Air Force placed an order for six Leonardo AW-109 helicopters, they are the AW-109M, the militarised version of the AW-109E that can be armed with heavy machine gun pods and 70 mm rocket launchers.
In 2019, the Nigerian Air Force received two AW-109 helicopters for use against jihadist in the northeastern Nigeria. Six helicopters were ordered. Another two AW-109 helicopters were delivered the next year.
