Magnus Fusion joins the fray in Nigeria’s CT-Coin fight
The first of many Hungarian-made Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) configured Magnus Fusion light combat and trainer aircraft has arrived in Nigeria to join the battle against insurgents.
The website Military Africa reported extensively on this new aircraft for the Nigerian Armed Forces.
The Fusion, designed by Magnus Aircraft, will also spearhead Nigeria’s attempt to grow it’s aerospace capacity by building the type locally.
On 8 December 2022, Magnus Fusion, registration HA-XCN, arrived in Abuja (Nigeria) after departing Hungary on 29 November, thereby completing a 9 days long trip and covering a distance of 7,680 km to commence flight testing in African climate.
Magnus will supply at least twenty of the aircraft, which comprises of Fusion Sentinel ISR version, Fusion UL training version for the Air Force, and the Nigerian Army has been marked down to also receive three MF-212 ISR and attack aircraft.
The attack version of the MF-212 carries R-60-NT-L short-range lightweight infrared homing air-to-air missile with the semi-active laser seeker and R-60-NT-T with the thermal imaging seeker. Both missiles are equipped with a new multi-beam laser proximity fuse that provides a continuous field of view, which significantly increases the probability of engaging small targets.
The aircraft is equipped with iSky-30 HD three-channel high-sensitivity optical-electronic station which enables automatic detection, tracking and identifying targets. In addition, the laser illumination function provides precise guidance of missiles with a semi-active laser and passive thermal imaging homing head.
Magnus Aircraft has teamed up with a local partner, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) who will be responsible for carrying out the subsequent overhaul of the aircraft and assembly.
It is reported that the Kenyan military is in talks with Hungarian Magnus Aircraft to acquire light aircraft to monitor it’s borders and fight poachers, and thieves or even to monitor livestock in their national parks.
Source: Military Africa / Photo (just illustrative) via Magnus Aircraft