The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Abubakar Sadique, has declared that recent intelligence has indicated that Boko Haram terrorists were planning to attack military bases in the country.
Sadique, who said this, added that it had become important to fortify the bases.
The Air Force chief noted that the solution was to have a base defence system, driven by technology across military facilities.
He said this at a retreat on Base Defence Planning held at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Kaduna State.
He explained that the air force, despite its potency, needed to secure its ground bases against terrorist attacks.
He said, “Given the importance of military bases in the air power delivery matrix, it is not inconceivable to expect our adversaries to target our bases.
“As a matter of fact, we have had an attack on one of our air bases in the recent past, and current intelligence reports keep highlighting the possibility of attacks on our bases.
“All these reinforce the need to emplace a robust base defence concept that is capable of providing guidance for responding to a wide range of situations that may threaten our bases.
“The retreat is aimed at educating relevant stakeholders on the new base defence concept, which is premised on the deployment of air-minded ground defence force.”
Sadique stated that the new unit was raised to counter modern threats to security.
He added, “These men are trained as a special light infantry and capable of operating both inside and outside the base perimeter against contemporary threats. They will leverage on intelligence and available modern technology.”
According to a statement by the NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, the retreat would make air bases more capable of repelling any terrorist attack.
“As a follow-up to the fight against insurgency, the CAS also held the 2017 Second Quarter meeting with commanders to appraise the overall performance of the NAF, identify gaps, review strategies and make projections,” Adesanya added.
