"The aircraft have met the required contractual, technical and airworthiness standards," Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, the Nigerian Air Force’s Director of Public Relations and Information, said on 27 July 2026.
Factory Acceptance Testing and clearance in Venegono Superiore
Between 29 June and 9 July 2026 the first three Leonardo M-346FA aircraft ordered by Nigeria — tail numbers NAF 01 through NAF 03 — completed Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) at Leonardo’s Venegono Superiore facility in Italy. The Nigerian Air Force announced on 27 July 2026 that those aircraft have been cleared for delivery, marking the formal start of the deliveries under Nigeria’s 24-aircraft order.
Contract structure, value and schedule
The order is for 24 M-346FA aircraft valued at roughly US$1.4 billion (€1.2 billion), structured across four tranches of six aircraft and organized into two Nigerian Air Force squadrons. The contract includes a 25-year logistics and maintenance support package; Leonardo will establish a maintenance hub in Nigeria and provide pilot and engineering training partly alongside the Italian Air Force at Galatina and Decimomannu.
Leonardo vice president Claudio Sabatino affirmed the company’s commitment to “unwavering…timely delivery” after earlier schedule pressure. The program had originally targeted a first batch of six aircraft by the end of 2024, a deadline the schedule missed by roughly a year and a half before FAT was completed this July. 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.
Aircraft capabilities and mission roles
Leonardo markets the M-346FA as a dual-role platform combining lead‑in fighter training with light attack tasks. Systems fitted to the M-346FA include a Grifo‑M346 multi‑mode radar and a defensive aids sub‑system. The airframe provides seven external hardpoints able to carry air‑to‑air missiles such as the AIM‑9 Sidewinder and IRIS‑T, precision‑strike stores including the AGM‑65 Maverick and guided bombs, and either 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, a service ceiling of 13,716 metres and a reported range of 1,925 kilometres, extendable to roughly 2,550 kilometres with external fuel tanks. Leonardo positions the type for close air support, battlespace air interdiction and tactical reconnaissance, including operations in urban environments.
How the order replaces older fleets and connects to current operations
The M-346FA is intended to replace the NAF’s Dassault Alpha Jet, Aero L‑39ZA Albatros and Aermacchi MB‑339AN fleets. Those older types, 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 operations against banditry in the northwest. In late 2022 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.”
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 characterization he reiterated during a January 2026 meeting with Leonardo executives in Milan that coincided with the parallel delivery of ten AW‑109 Trekker helicopters.
What this means for the Nigerian Air Force, Leonardo, and operational forces
- Nigerian Air Force: The FAT clearance permits the NAF to take physical delivery and begin the process of integrating the type into service; however, force planners will still need to wait for a published delivery schedule and for decisions on basing and squadron structure before the M‑346FA can contribute at scale.
- Leonardo: The company faces near‑term execution tasks — shipping the cleared aircraft, standing up the promised Nigerian maintenance hub, and delivering the long‑term training and logistics package over a 25‑year period while managing the reputational effects of the earlier schedule slip.
- Operational forces conducting counter‑insurgency: Units currently employing JF‑17s, A‑29 Super Tucanos and older trainers will see the M‑346FA as a future element in their toolkit for precision strike, close air support and tactical reconnaissance, but the timing and basing of that capability integration remain undetermined.
The FAT milestone closes one chapter and leaves a short list of practical questions: when will the remaining 21 aircraft arrive, where the two new squadrons will be based, and how rapidly the planned Nigerian maintenance hub and training pipeline can scale. For now, the cleared trio — NAF 01 to NAF 03 — moves from Italian factory testing toward service, and both supplier and customer will be judged on how quickly that initial promise converts into operational capability.
