The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, said that the dynamism of air power employment was critical to operational successes in any military outfit.
The Director of Public Relations and Information, Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Headquarters, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to him, Amao made the statement when he inaugurated the NAF Air Warfare Centre and its first course on basic air power for young officers.
The CAS added that air power had become a key determinant of operational effectiveness, as well as a force multiplier in all ongoing operations in the country.
He said that the reactivation of the centre perfectly aligned with his vision for the service, tailored towards enhancing and sustaining critical air power capabilities required for joint force employment in pursuit of national security imperatives.
”It tallies with two key drivers of my vision, which focuses on doctrinal development and application of air power in joint military operations and pursuit of purposeful training and human capacity development.”
On the mandate of the centre, Amao stated that it would seek to support the airman across the spectrum of air warfare requirements.
This, he said, ranged from training and operational readiness to doctrinal and tactics development.
He said that such support would enhance effectiveness by giving impetus to service-wide efforts that would translate existing materiel and human capacity into actual capabilities to fulfil air power tasks demanded by national defence and security imperatives.
The CAS also urged the pioneer Commandant of the centre, AVM Micheal Onyebashi and staff, to prime the new institution for the highest standards and maximum impact.
He urged the Centre to evolve new and dynamic approaches for NAF employment of air power.
“This way, the centre will play a significant role in the efforts to apply the military instrument of power to address the myriad of security challenges facing the nation.“
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He also used the occasion to appreciate members of the Air Power Consult for the development of the centre’s curriculum and new doctrines that cut across most combat and combat support specialities of the service.
Earlier, Onyebachi observed that recent experiences and current realities in the various theatres of operations where NAF was engaged, underscored the imperative for a purposeful-built institution focused on enhancing the effective and efficient application of air power.
This, he said, led to Amao putting together a body of officers made up of respected retired senior NAF officers known as the members of the Air Power Consult, to midwife the establishment of the re-engineered centre.
According to Amao, the inauguration of the centre is a product of numerous strategic sessions and background work by the consult, whose inputs are valuable in putting together the various curriculums for the programmes.
The commandant commended the CAS for his visionary leadership which had continued to always seek, explore and invest in every venture that would advance the impact of airpower application on the nation’s security.
He added that the centre was designed to be a special purpose vehicle to accelerate the drive towards doctrinal enquiry, review and development and purposeful airpower training and overall human capacity development in NAF.
Amao said the objective of the Basic Air Power Course was to instil in young NAF officers a level of air-mindedness that would enable them to apply their primary assignment to the overall objective of NAF.
The course, according to him, is well packaged not only to inform but to also encourage active student participation, stimulate thoughts and incentivise self-study.
“The desired outcome is to produce airpower practitioners who are sufficiently equipped to project and deliver the promises of airpower in line with contemporary and global best practices.
“The establishment of the centre for NAF was first conceived in 2013 to develop operational and tactical doctrines, as well as provide integrated mission support training for enhanced joint force employment.
“Nonetheless, the centre was only established on paper since then. The centre has the mandate to offer training which impacts positively on the effectiveness of NAF operations in theatres across the country.
“Based on this mandate, the centre’s curriculum is intended to include doctrine development and operational-level training, as well as operational readiness assessment across all combat units.”
