President Buhari with dignitaries including Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonaya Onu, Minister of Defence, Monsur Dan Ali, Minister of State Aviation, Hadi Sirika, Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung and Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai during the Induction of First Locally Made Nigerian Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Tsaigumi) in Kaduna State on 15th Feb 2018
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), on 15 February 2018, inducted the first indigenous operational Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) nicknamed, Tsaigumi.
The Tsaigumi UAV, which was produced by NAF Aerospace Engineers in collaboration with UAVision of Portugal, would be used for Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations on land and sea domains.
A statement by Olatokunbo Adesanya, Air Vice Marshal, Director of Public Relations and Information, Nigerian Air Force, said that it could also be used for policing operations, disaster management, convoy protection, maritime patrol, pipeline and power line monitoring as well as mapping and border patrol duties. In addition, it could be deployed for the protection of wildlife, weather forecast and telecast.
Additionally, in the maritime domain, the Tsaigumi UAV could be used for search and rescue, coastal monitoring and patrol of Nigeria’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
The UAV, which is capable of day and night operations, has an operational endurance in excess of 10 hours, a service ceiling of 15,000 feet and a mission radius of 100km. It has a maximum take-off weight of 95kg and its payload is an electro-optic/infra-red camera system.
