In this week’s edition, on the continent, Tunisia emerges as a big customer for Turkish military hardware, the Nigerian Army is operating Isotrex armoured personnel carriers as it orders another 52 Ezugwu armoured vehicles, Ethiopia is operating Chinese mobile bridges, the British Army trains its 500th Somali soldier in infantry skills as the US military’s Africom commander visits Somalia and the Kenya Police Air Wing is dissolved and merged into a new department.
In SANDF news, COVID-19 puts paid to Armed Forces Day 2021, a Presidential letter authorising soldier beach patrols is received by the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, the SAAF assists in the rescue of six flood victims and misses its flying hour targets.
defenceWeb
Written by defenceWeb -
A Kenyan government Mi-171 helicopter.
The Kenya Police Air Wing has been dissolved, incorporated into the Kenya Air Force, and subsequently become part of a new National Air Support Department (NASD).
The Department is a multi-agency unit that falls under the Ministry of Defence and is charged with coordinating Kenya’s national air response services.
The Department was inaugurated by President Uhuru Kenyatta on 17 December 2020.
The NASD has a fleet of 36 aircraft and incorporates the National Police Air Wing, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), among others.