Namibia response boosted by China transports

The Y-9, powered by four WoJiang WJ-6C turboprops, is a stretched and upgraded Chinese development of the Shaanxi Y-8F.

The programme was a collaborative effort with Ukrainian company Antonov – the designers of the Soviet-era Antonov An-12 from which the Y-9 is ultimately derived – and was aimed at competing with the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules.

Namibia is the first recipient of the Y-9E export variant, with a maximum payload of 25 tonnes, or the ability to carry up to 106 paratroopers. The Y-9Es are a major advance in capability over the Namibian Air Force’s existing largest aircraft, the Antonov An-26 light tactical transport.

They will give the country the ability to transport supplies to remote outposts in the large southern African nation, or to carry men or materiel elsewhere in Africa on peacekeeping or humanitarian missions.

“The acquisition of these medium transport aircraft will go a long way in improving and enhancing the Namibian Defence Force’s operational capacity and readiness to respond at short notice to any situation that might require the involvement of our soldiers, both during peacetime and wartime emergencies,” president Nangolo Mbumba was quoted as saying by local media.

China has provided Namibia with several components of its air arm.

Most significantly, it provided a squadron of six F-7NMs, the Chinese unlicenced version of the Soviet MiG-21, according to specialist South African website DefenceWeb, together with four K-8 training jets and two Y12-11 light transports.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has bolstered its fleet of Dassault-Dornier Alpha Jets with the purchase of a further 12 surplus examples of the Franco-German advanced trainer and light strike aircraft to supplement the estimated eight examples currently in service.

It is understood that six of the aircraft will be restored to flying condition and enter operational service, while the remaining six will be used as a source of spare parts for the operational fleet.

The Alpha Jets have been extensively used as ground-attack aircraft in the continuing campaign against Boko Haram Islamist rebels in the north of the country.