The Nigerian Army’s Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, and several delegates have paid a visit to Proforce Defence facilities to grow collaboration between the Nigerian Army and Proforce.
On Wednesday, 22 September, the Army Chief visited the Maintenance, Repairs, and Overhaul (MRO) section where repairs of vehicles like Cobra 1 APC, Steyr APC, Navistar, and Caiman MRAPs is carried out.
The COAS was shown around the production floor of the Helmets and Vests manufacturing section, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, as well as drone and trainer jets manufacturing, Military Communication Systems, Signal Intelligence, Open Source, and Web Intelligence.
While making a statement regarding the visit, Proforce Defence announced that the Nigerian Army through its investment arm, Nigerian Army Welfare Limited by Guarantee NAWLG, acquired a 15% shareholding of Proforce Limited.
Proforce however refrained from providing more details regarding the agreement. However, Proforce noted that the Nigerian Government is also promoting the acquisition of local equipment and Proforce is helping support the Nigerian Army’s desire to be self-sufficient.
For quite some time, Proforce Defence has supplied several types of its combat-proven Ara-series mine resistance and ambush-protected vehicles (MRAP) to Nigeria and Chad.
The Ara (Thunder) MRAP was first unveiled at the African Aerospace and Defence exhibition in 2016.
In July 2019, the Chadian government signed a contract with Proforce for the sale of twenty improved Ara (Ara 2) mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles, with the option for several more. The business was signed after South Africa’s Denel failed to supply 40 Military Vehicles to Chad in an order signed in 2017. The Chadian Government paid R100 Million as a down payment for these vehicles, with a total cost between R230 Million and R250 Million.
Likewise, Proforce’s flagship armored personnel carrier PF2 has been exported to Rwanda, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan, as well as to Nigeria.
To continue providing innovative defense and security products, Proforce is setting up an armored vehicle manufacturing plant; a UAV manufacturing facility; Electronic Equipment Factory for the manufacturing of radios and jammers; an ammunition factory; research and development center; training school; vehicle testing track; firing range; and armored glass manufacturing factory.
In August 2019, Proforce signed a technical partnership with Atesci for ammunition production.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the IDEF’19, 14th International Defence Industry Fair held in Turkey.
In the same vein, Proforce limited and Ukrainian PJSC AUTOKRAZ signed a strategic partnership agreement to jointly assemble the KrAZ trucks in Ogun state, Nigeria.
The agreement will see the manufacture of both military and civilian grade heavy-duty off-road trucks under the brand name KRAZ-PROFORCE, and Ukrainian military technology would be transferred to Nigeria.
For the Nigerian Army, this new development follows a laid down strategic pattern for improving self-sufficiency in the area of military equipment procurement. In that direction, the Nigerian Army and Nigeria’s Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) signed an agreement in July last year to develop composite armor for military vehicles.
Nigeria has also signed a Military-Technical Cooperation Agreement with the Russian Federation, the agreement provides a legal framework for the supply of military equipment, provision of after-sales services, training of personnel in respective educational establishments and technology transfer,