The Tsaigumi UAV is an
unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
designed and used by the
Nigerian Air Force
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is the air branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is the youngest branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
It is one of the largest in Africa, consisting of about 15,000 personnel and aircraft including eight Chinese Che ...
. It is one of the first UAVs indigenously developed in
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
.
This is in furtherance of the ongoing drive to produce and incorporate made-in-Nigeria military weapons.
History
Former President
Goodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...
claimed that the Tsaigumi is actually the same as the GULMA drone developed by Nigeria in 2013, and hence not the first domestic Nigerian UAV.
Air Vice Marshall Olatokunbo Adesanya disputed this, claiming that the GULMA drone "was not operational", and that the Tsaigumi was thus the first completed Nigerian UAV.
Operations
Air Vice Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya stated that the Tsaigumi would be used for operations including disaster monitor, law enforcement, weather forecasting, protecting wildlife, and monitoring Nigeria's
exclusive economic zone.
Design
The Tsaigumi UAV's airframe was built by the 431 Engineering Group of the Nigerian Air Force, with the avionics and telemetry equipment were developed by UAVision of Portugal.
The designer was reported to be Nkemdilim Anulika Ofodile, an aerospace engineer in the Nigerian Air Force.
Tsaigumi means 'surveillance' in the local
Hausa language
Hausa (; /; Ajami: ) is a Chadic language spoken by the Hausa people in the northern half of Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Benin and Togo, and the southern half of Niger, Chad and Sudan, with significant minorities in Ivory Coast.
Hausa is a member ...
. It is a twin-boom UAV spotting a pusher propeller configuration. It is fitted with an Electro-Optical Forward Looking Infra-red System (EO FLIR).
For take-off and landing, the Tsaigumi UAV is fitted with a tri-cycle landing gears which has two main wheels and a steerable front wheel attached to the nose of the vehicle.
Its maximum take-off weight is 95 kg.
General characteristics
Crew: 3 Operator (Mission Commander, Pilot, Navigator)
Length:
Wingspan:
Max takeoff weight: 95 kg
Powerplant:
Performance
Maximum speed:
Mission radius:
Range:
Endurance: 10 hours
Service ceiling:
Operational altitude:
Armament
None
Avionics
* Day/Night EO FLIR
* GPS
* INS
Service history
The Tsaigumi was formally inducted into service on February 15, 2018.
References
{{reflist
Nigerian Air Force
Unmanned aerial vehicles of Nigeria
Military equipment of Nigeria