The Nigerian Air Force has partnered with NASRDA to develop a guided missiles to be used by an armed prototype of the Tsaigumi. It will be the first armed attack drone developed by an African country
The Chief of Air Staff signed an MOU to fast track collaborative measures to improve force rocketry and missile propulsion systems.
AVM Sadique Abubakar had lamented that some helicopters in the NAF inventory had to fly as close as 1.5 kilometres to target before firing, exposing pilots to enemy fire.
He then tasked the Nigerian Space Agency to develop a system that will allow Nigerian aircraft launch their missiles from a distance of at least 3 kilometrres from the target.
The Director of Engineering and Space System Dr Femi Agboola said NASRDA had the capacity to improve the missile propulsion needs of the NAF.
But then he said said NASRDA already has rockets that exceeds the levels the NAF has requested for, about 5 kilometres.
He said:”We have already gone beyond that. We are already working on how to guide it, not just point and shoot straight line but to be able
to make sure it goes intelligently to another location.”
NASRDA engineers have carried out several rocket propulsion test at the Ekpe missile range in Lagos.
Telemetry from this rocket launch showed it exceeded 15km. This means a miniature version can probably go twice as far. If the technical aspect of guidance can be overcomed the NAF might get its own guided missile
The 30.1mm rocket developed at the NAF institute of Technology follows the same pathway as the Gulma UAV. The Gulma was an experimental UAV, which was developed as a technological demonstrator used to gather performance data on UAV system.
The data gathered from Gulma prototype was plied in the design of operational UAV, Tsaigumi, which was inducted on Feb 15, 2018 as the first operational indigenously produced UAV.
The 30.1mm rocket follows the same trajectory and a precursor to a sophisticated missile system.
Photos of Missile Test:
(C) Control TV 2020.
