12 Aircraft Deal to Operationalize Nigerian Army Aviation Unit

MD Helicopters (MDH) has entered into a contract under which the Mesa, Arizona-based rotorcraft-maker will provide 12 MD 530F Cayuse Warrior Plus Scout/Attack helicopters to the federal government of the West African nation of Nigeria.

The Aviation division of the Nigerian Army will utilize subject helicopters to effectively address the security challenges peculiar Nigeria’s standing as the wealthiest and most populous of Africa’s 54 constituent countries.

The acquisition of the new attack helicopters speaks to the Nigerian government’s ongoing efforts to enhance the mission capability and readiness of the Nigerian military, which operates, as a matter of convention, against a regional backdrop of socio-political unrest.

Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, commented at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Nigerian Army Aviation Seminar that the MD 530F Cayuse Warrior Plus attack helicopters would operationalize the Nigerian Army Aviation unit, which was established to improve the lethality of the service’s ground troops. General Lagbaja further stated the helicopters would contribute significantly to the overall operational successes of joint and coalition forces in the West African region.

MD Helicopters president and CEO Brad Pedersen set forth: “MD Helicopters is grateful for the trust of the Nigerian government, and we’re excited to showcase this purpose built, best value solution to Nigeria and the world.”

Mr. Pedersen attended the Nigerian Army Aviation Seminar, which was held in the nation’s capital city of Abuja, alongside luminaries of the country’s military leadership.

MD Helicopters will commence delivering the newly-acquired aircraft to Nigeria during 2023’s fourth quarter.

Based on Hughes’s OH-6 Cayuse single-engine light helicopter, MD Helicopters’s MD 530F Cayuse Warrior is designed specifically for military operations in hot, high-altitude environs. Considered broadly, the aircraft is a two-place, single-engine VFR helicopter fitted with a five-blade, fully-articulated rotor-system with anti-torque provided by a two-blade, semi-rigid tail-rotor. The main- and tail-rotor blades are of all-metal construction.

The MD 530F is powered by a single 650-shaft-horsepower Rolls-Royce 250-C30 turboshaft engine derated to 425-shaft-horsepower for thirty-minutes and 375-shaft-horsepower continuous power. To support the increased takeoff performance demands typical of military operations, the engine is rated to transient power outputs 450-shaft-horsepower for thirty-seconds and five-hundred-shaft-horsepower for ten-seconds.

In 2017, MD Helicopters upgraded the MD 530F with an Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) comprising Garmin’s G500TXi and Howell Instruments Inc. Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System (EICAS). The latter encompasses two independent displays providing indication of aircraft systems even in the event of single failure. The dual G500 TXi displays serve as a Primary Flight Display (PFD) and the Multi-Functional Display (MFD).

MD Helicopters’s MD 530F is a proven tactical scout and light attack aircraft valued for its power, safety, speed, agility, and favorable confined-area capabilities. The machine’s Plus version features mission enhancements the likes of a precision weapons system, avionics improvements, and armor.

FMI: www.mdhelicopters.com/models/cayuse-warrior