Air Force chief tells doctrine centre to turn battlefield lessons into better combat

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, has asked the Nigerian Air Force's Air Warfare and Doctrine Centre (AWDC) to feed lessons from real operations into the way the service fights, saying good aircraft alone are not enough.

Aneke gave the charge in Abuja on Tuesday while commissioning vehicles for the centre, according to accounts carried by The Nation and Leadership. He was represented by the Chief of Logistics, Air Vice Marshal Henry Yurkusi.

He said modern warfare is marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, and that meeting it needs sound doctrine, fresh operational thinking and professional military education.

"These demands require not only capable aircraft and modern equipment but also sound doctrines," the Air Chief said.

He said the centre's work in doctrine, research and training shapes how the service understands air power and prepares its people for new security challenges.

Vehicles to ease movement, staff cars for directors

The vehicles, he said, are an investment in the centre's capacity. They should improve movement, coordination of official engagements, supervision of activities and support for training programmes.

Aneke warned that the vehicles must be controlled, maintained and used according to operational priorities, with strict accountability.

"Accountability and adherence to extant regulations must remain paramount," he said, adding that every resource given to the service should serve its objectives.

The AWDC commandant, Air Vice Marshal Garba Ibrahim Jibia, said the vehicles ended a long-standing problem. Personnel had struggled to get to and from work, and directors had no staff cars to match their responsibilities.

He said the intervention had "restored dignity, morale and pride" to officers and men of the centre, and promised the vehicles would be well kept and used only for official work.

Wider mandate

Jibia said the centre is also deepening its role in air power doctrine, coordinating military exercises and supporting joint operations across the armed forces.

It has taken on the added job of coordinating air-ground integration and civilian harm mitigation in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations, he said, to improve cooperation between air and ground forces.

Since taking command on 6 January 2026, Jibia said his focus has been to knit air, land and maritime forces together through doctrines that reflect today's realities.

Aneke also asked personnel to keep innovating, stay disciplined and obey the law, and restated the Air Force leadership's commitment to personnel welfare.

What happens next: The centre is expected to keep reviewing its doctrines and training to reflect lessons from ongoing operations, while the new vehicles are put to use under the accountability rules the Air Chief set out.