The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) announced on 27 July 2026 that its first three Leonardo M-346FA aircraft – tail numbers NAF 01 through NAF 03 – completed Factory Acceptance Testing at Leonardo’s Venegono Superiore facility in Italy between 29 June and 9 July 2026 and have been cleared for delivery.
Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, the NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, said the acceptance process confirms the aircraft “have met the required contractual, technical and airworthiness standards.”
The milestone marks the start of deliveries under Nigeria’s order for 24 M-346FA aircraft, a fighter-attack variant of Leonardo’s advanced jet trainer valued at roughly US$1.4 billion (€1.2 billion) and structured across four tranches of six aircraft, organized into two Nigerian Air Force squadrons.
The first aircraft flew with complete NAF livery on 27 April 2026, roughly a year and a half after Nigeria’s presidency confirmed the order in May 2023.
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The M-346FA Adds Precision Strike to a Light Attack and Trainer Role
The M-346FA carries a Grifo-M346 multi-mode radar, a defensive aids sub-system, and seven external hardpoints across which it can carry AIM-9 Sidewinder and IRIS-T air-to-air missiles, AGM-65 Maverick and guided bombs for precision strike, alongside 20-millimetre or 12.7-millimetre gun pods.
Powered by two Honeywell F124-GA-200 turbofans, the aircraft is rated for a top speed near Mach 0.95 and a service ceiling of 13,716 metres, with a reported range of 1,925 kilometres that extends to roughly 2,550 kilometres with external tanks.
Leonardo markets the type as a dual-role platform combining lead-in fighter training with close air support, battlespace air interdiction, and tactical reconnaissance, including in urban environments.
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Leonardo vice president Claudio Sabatino affirmed the company’s commitment to “unwavering…timely delivery” of the fleet after earlier schedule pressure – the program had originally targeted a first batch of six aircraft by the end of 2024, a date that slipped by roughly a year and a half before Factory Acceptance Testing was completed this July.
The contract includes a 25-year logistics and maintenance support package, with Leonardo establishing a maintenance hub in Nigeria and conducting pilot and engineering training partly alongside the Italian Air Force at Galatina and Decimomannu.
The Order Replaces Nigeria’s Ageing Alpha Jet and L-39 Fleets
The M-346FA is intended to replace the Nigerian Air Force’s Dassault Alpha Jet, Aero L-39ZA Albatros, and Aermacchi MB-339AN fleets, aircraft that together with the JF-17 Thunder and Embraer A-29B Super Tucano have carried the bulk of Nigeria’s counter-insurgency air campaign against Boko Haram and ISWAP in the northeast and banditry in the northwest.
Then-Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Oladayo Amao credited the JF-17, Super Tucano, and UAV fleets with being “one of the many reasons why we are winning the war against terrorism” in comments made in late 2022, before the M-346FA order was finalized.
Current Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke has described the M-346FA as a step toward strengthening the NAF’s overall operational capability, a framing he reiterated during a January 2026 meeting with Leonardo executives in Milan alongside the parallel delivery of ten AW-109 Trekker helicopters.
Neither Leonardo nor the NAF has published a delivery schedule for the remaining 21 aircraft, and no source has confirmed a home base or squadron designation for the M-346FA fleet.
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