In 2005, the Nigerian government allocated $250 million to purchase 15 J-7 fighters from China: 12 J-7NI single-seat fighters and 3 J-7NI two-seat trainers. Of the $250 million, $220 million is for bare-metal purchases, while the remaining $32 million is for the required airborne weaponry: 20 Thunderbolt-9C air-to-air missiles, 10 Thunderbolt-9 training missiles, unguided rockets and 250/500kg bombs. Nigerian pilots have been training in China since 2008, and deliveries of J-7 fighters began in 2009. It can be seen that the Nigerian Air Force is not very enthusiastic about guided munitions, but unguided munitions account for the majority - which is the main reason for its ineffective counter-terrorism;
However, Nigeria's poor maintenance level has cost them 1/3, which has also led to a sharp reduction in the combat effectiveness of the Nigerian Air Force: in the war on terror, they had to dispatch training aircraft such as Alpha Jets for close support/attack, and they were severely taught a lesson by the "Boko Haram" individual anti-aircraft missile! The Nigerian Air Force, which learned the lesson, woke up to the fact that the lack of multi-role fighters is really not good!
WHAT ABOUT THE NIGERIAN AIR FORCE'S "THUNDER" FIGHTERS? AMONG THE SIX THUNDERS, THREE ARE PAKISTAN'S SECOND-HAND BLOCK-1 AND THREE ARE BLOCK-II. -- THEY HAVE A CERTAIN MULTI-PURPOSE STRIKE CAPABILITY, BUT THE NIGERIAN AIR FORCE'S "THUNDER" SORTIE RATE IS NOT HIGH: IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THERE IS NO LARGE PURCHASE OF Chinese-style guided munitions (it is said that pakistan is very enthusiastic to provide guided munitions, and the number of purchases by the niglican army is not large), but they buy turkish goods for a small bargain, and the performance cannot meet expectations... In addition, the maintenance precision of Russian-made engines is not affordable for the Nigerian Air Force logistics department;
The Nigerian Air Force is known for its poor maintenance rates: when the Nigerian Air Force Jaguar was officially retired in 1991, most of them flew less than 150 hours. Among them, the most used "Jaguar" BN series NAF703 aircraft has 150 hours and 54 minutes of flight hours when it is decommissioned - it has been used for less than 200 flight hours at the cost of billions of dollars, and the rest of the time is spent in the nest to gnaw ashes......
Nigeria has the largest unmanned aerial systems in the region: Rainbow 3/4 and Pterodactyl-2 as the main forces. They have also achieved some success, and their maintenance is relatively simple;
However, the role of manned fighters cannot be replaced by unmanned reconnaissance and combat drones for the time being: the Nigerian Air Force still has to replenish the attrition. It has not many options: Western fighter jets are too expensive, Indian fighter jets are too light, and only the services and products of the Pakistan Air Force satisfy it;
The Pakistan Air Force has a world-class management and procurement and logistics system: it is by far the best in the Islamic Air Force! Its "Thunder Dragon-III" is also a 3.5 generation light fighter with excellent cost performance: the Nigerian Air Force can take the road of "improve first, then buy";
Pakistan's aviation industry is ready to upgrade the Thunder-I/II., and the Thunder-III. provides enough upgrade packages - the Nigerian aviation industry can also learn from the Pakistan aviation industry, and Pakistan provides upgrade packages to upgrade in Nepal (although the quality is not easy to say), purchase advanced guided munitions and supporting equipment, and learn a reliable logistics support management system, and the modification funds are definitely much cheaper than the purchase of new 3.5 generation fighters;
The point is that Pakistan could provide Nigeria with a production line for guided munitions, allowing it to produce them domestically: so that the long-range precision firepower that the war on terror so desperately needed could be consistently exported.
As for the LCA that Indians are obsessed with, wash and sleep – if Nigeria buys Indian products, it will be isolated by Islamic countries: India supports Israel's massacre of Palestinian civilians. At the same time, it will also lose the support of Pakistan's aviation industry, and the Thunder fighter can only climb the nest with a high probability.