BASE DEFENCE: NAF Graduates New Batch Of Force Protection Squad

In furtherance of its sustained efforts at building the capacity of personnel to carry out the tasks of force protection and safeguarding of critical national assets, the Regiment Training Centre (RTC) of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Base Kaduna weekend, graduated a new batch of 151 Regiment personnel comprising 10 officers and 141 airmen/airwomen in Critical Asset Protection Squad Course (CAPSC) 4/2023.

According to a statement while speaking during the graduation ceremony, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao urged the graduands to maintain a high level of discipline and professionalism while consolidating on the knowledge gained during the course to improve their skills for the benefits of the NAF and the nation at large.

The CAS, who was represented by the Chief of Training and Operations, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Aliyu Bello disclosed that the NAF would continue to adopt new processes in line with changing security environment in furtherance of the CAS vision “to enhance and sustain critical airpower capabilities required for joint force employment in pursuit of national security imperatives”.

Speaking further, Air Marshal Amao extolled the Air Officer Commanding, Ground Training Command (AOC-GTC), Commandant, staff, and instructors of RTC for painstaking training the fourth batch of the CAPSC as against the first and second courses conducted with the assistance of the Israeli Four Troop Security Company, noting that there was no doubt that the RTC has done a great job in molding and equipping the graduating students with requisites skills, knowledge, and the right attitude needed for the efficient conduct of base defense and force protection responsibilities.

On his part, the AOC-GTC, AVM Shayo Olatunde thanked the CAS for providing the enabling environment in terms of policy direction, the release of resources and other enablers to effectively and successfully run the Centre to produce such gallant ground combat personnel with the rightful skills that would better safeguard NAF assets and bases as well as national critical assets.

The AOC revealed that the training institutions under the GTC now have added capacity to train allied students of other nations, a development he noted was another testimony to the CAS’s tenacity for purposeful training and capacity development across board.

He highlighted that the Command has instituted several reforms on curriculum review, infrastructural upgrades, and instructor enhancements through training the trainer courses to make all NAF institutions regionally and globally attractive.

The course included two weeks of medical and physical screening with eight weeks of rigorous physical training, aimed at equipping the trainees with tactics, techniques and procedures to enable them function effectively and adapt to the dynamics of the constantly changing irregular warfare environment.

In actualizing the objectives of the course, the training was conducted in four phases including the operative phase, range/shooting phase and the consolidation/exercise phase to groom the trainees with the skills required to defend NAF bases and other critical national assets like airports.

Highlights of the graduation ceremony include a simulation of a scenario where base defense procedure is being carried out with a team of adversaries initiating an attack on a VIP convoy, resulting in the force protection team responding with a counter-attack to repel and dislodge the elements.