Air Force says it flew 2,900 missions and used nearly 10m litres of fuel in 11 months

The Nigerian Air Force says it carried out more than 2,900 missions and logged over 6,100 flying hours in 11 months, using close to 10 million litres of aviation fuel in the process.

The service made the figures public in a statement on Sunday, ahead of the first anniversary of the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, in office on October 30.

According to Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, the NAF's director of public relations and information, the period covered was November 2025 to September 2026. The fuel used was Jet A-1, the standard aviation fuel.

The missions, he said, included air strikes, armed patrols, surveillance flights and support for ground troops. He said they were planned around intelligence and clear targets, and that the aim was to weaken armed groups and limit their freedom to move.

What the anniversary statement also covered

Ejodame said the operations sit within Aneke's wider plan for the service, which he listed as better operations, staff welfare, new technology and stronger accountability.

On welfare, he said the Air Force has worked on allowances, medical care and housing, and has restarted flights that move personnel to and from frontline areas. The service, he said, promoted 57 senior officers to the ranks of Air Vice Marshal and Air Commodore, along with 1,534 senior non-commissioned officers and 1,936 non-commissioned officers. More than 550 personnel went for training abroad, while over 6,000 were trained locally.

On equipment, he said five helicopters arrived in September: three AW-109 Trekker Type B and two H125. The NAF is also working to buy 12 AH-1Z attack helicopters and other aircraft and drones. Six L-39ZA aircraft are being reactivated in Slovakia and Nigeria, and a C-130 is undergoing maintenance in Portugal.

He said 284 projects have been approved, with 145 finished and 139 still running. They cover housing, schools, medical facilities, offices, roads, power and water.

The statement also said the service has set up a committee to audit operations and safety, is tightening its safety management, and is building ways to prevent and respond to harm to civilians. A plan is in place to open a centre that uses publicly available information for intelligence.

On local production, Ejodame said the NAF has worked on aircraft release cartridges, a 250-kilogramme bomb-loading trolley and locally made 57-millimetre rockets that have been tested on the ground.

He said community health and education projects have continued, and that the service remains focused on turning its spending on people, aircraft, training and infrastructure into better results against Nigeria's security problems.

What happens next

The service did not say how much the fuel cost or where the missions took place. Its stated next steps are the helicopter purchase, the aircraft maintenance abroad and the planned intelligence centre.