Delivery of all twelve A-29B Super Tucanos to the Nigerian Air Force has been completed, with the last six aircrafts touching down in Kano on 29 September a day before the deadline set by the Air Force.
The A-29B Super Tucano with serials 19-2035; 19-2037; 19-2041; 19-2042; 19-2043 and 19-2044 were supported by a single Dornier 328-110, with registration D-CAAN. The six aircraft flew under the callsign “Raven”.
Four of the A-29 Super Tucano aircraft landed in Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Scotland on September 25, after spending 7 days stuck in Keflavik, Iceland due to strong winds. Two aircraft were also left behind due to technical issues.
They finally departed the Keflavik Airport, Iceland to Prestwick on September 24 when the weather became permissible.
The first batch of six A-29 Super Tucano aircraft arrived Kano, with the same callsign ” Raven” on 22 July, they were sporting both desert and woodland camouflage scheme, and with serials 19-2033; 19-2034; 19-2036; 19-2038; 19-2039 and 19-2040.
Sierra Nevada Corporation(SNC) was awarded a $329 million Foreign Military Sales contract from the US government to build the 12 A-29 Super Tucanos for the Nigerian Air Force in 2018.
A-29 Super Tucano is currently in operational service with the air forces of 15 nations, including Afghanistan; Angola; Brazil; Burkina Faso; Chile; Colombia; the Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Indonesia; Lebanon; Mali; Mauritania; the Philippines; Senegal and the US.
In Nigeria, they’ll fly alongside the newly delivered JF-17 Thunder multirole figher acquired from Pakistan earlier this year.