Nigeria’s First M-346FA Jets Clear Testing as Financing Falls Into Place
Nigeria’s First M-346FA Jets Clear Testing as Financing Falls Into Place
Nigeria’s first three Leonardo M-346FA light attack jets have cleared factory acceptance testing in Italy and a European bank consortium has finalized the export-credit financing needed to pay for them, moving the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) a step closer to fielding a locally built fighter-attack jet it has waited on since 2023. Reports citing the financing agreement point to October 17, 2026, as the date deliveries of the first batch are scheduled to begin, though other reporting on the program’s own testing timeline suggests the aircraft may not physically reach Nigeria until December. The aircraft are intended to replace Nigeria’s aging Alpha Jet, L-39ZA Albatros and MB-339AN fleets in a counter-insurgency campaign against Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) that has increasingly relied on the JF-17 Thunder and A-29 Super Tucano.
What Happened
The Nigerian Air Force announced on July 27, 2026, that its first three M-346FA aircraft — tail numbers NAF 01 through NAF 03 — had completed factory acceptance testing at Leonardo’s Venegono Superiore facility near Milan between June 29 and July 9, 2026. A joint NAF and Ministry of Defence delegation inspected the jets alongside pilot and maintenance training, simulation systems, logistics support and long-term sustainment arrangements, and the Air Force said the aircraft met all contractual, technical and airworthiness requirements for delivery. Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, the Chief of the Air Staff, called the milestone a step toward strengthening Nigeria’s airpower in indirect remarks reported by DefenceWeb.
Separately, Italian financial press, led by Il Messaggero and relayed by Alliance News and German-language outlets, reported that a bank consortium led by UniCredit, Crédit Agricole and Banco BPM has finalized a roughly €450 million buyer’s credit for Nigeria’s Ministry of Defence, split into three tranches and fully guaranteed by Italian export-credit agency SACE, with repayment running until April 2037 at a rate tied to the six-month Euribor plus 170 basis points. That reporting says Nigeria’s government met its conditions for the facility to take effect after a first SACE premium payment of €8.9 million, and that deliveries under this financing tranche — covering an initial six aircraft in the base “Fighter Attack” configuration — are scheduled to begin October 17, 2026. Nigeria’s cabinet had separately approved a related €443.3 million credit facility plus about €121 million for ammunition back in October 2024, a step that preceded this financing’s apparent finalization.
The two reporting threads do not fully reconcile: the Air Force’s own July 2026 statement and follow-on coverage describe the first three aircraft as expected to physically arrive in Nigeria by December 2026, after nearly a year and a half of schedule slippage from an original late-2024 target. Neither Leonardo nor the Nigerian Ministry of Defence has published a single, consolidated delivery date, and it is not clear whether the October 17 date applies to the same three-aircraft batch that completed testing in July or to a different slice of the order.
The Product/System
The M-346FA is a fighter-attack variant of Leonardo’s M-346 advanced jet trainer, fitted with the Grifo-346 multimode fire-control radar, a defensive aids suite, tactical datalink and helmet-mounted display. It carries up to roughly 2,000 kg of ordnance across seven hardpoints, including AIM-9 and IRIS-T air-to-air missiles, AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles, guided bombs and gun pods. Powered by two Honeywell F124-GA-200 turbofans, it has a top speed near Mach 0.95, a service ceiling of about 13,700 meters and a range of roughly 1,925 km, extendable to about 2,550 km with external fuel tanks. Leonardo markets the aircraft as capable of both advanced pilot training and frontline missions — precision strike, close air support, air interdiction and air combat — a dual role Nigeria’s order is built around.
Who Uses It (Confirmed Operators Only, Labeled by Confidence)
Confirmed, in testing: Nigeria, under a 2023 order for 24 M-346FA aircraft, is the lead confirmed export customer for the attack variant specifically; the first three airframes have passed factory acceptance testing but had not been confirmed as physically delivered to Nigeria as of this writing.
Related trainer variant: The unarmed M-346 trainer, from which the FA is derived, is operated by Italy, Israel, Singapore, Poland and Greece, among others, though those air forces do not field the armed Fighter Attack configuration central to Nigeria’s order.
Export/Procurement History
Nigeria’s presidency confirmed the 24-aircraft order in May 2023, valued at approximately €1.2 billion (around $1.4 billion), structured in four tranches of six aircraft each equipping two NAF squadrons, along with a 25-year logistics and maintenance package, a planned maintenance hub in Nigeria, and pilot and engineer training partly conducted alongside the Italian Air Force at Galatina and Decimomannu. The program has slipped substantially: deliveries were originally expected to begin in late 2024, and the first Nigerian-configured aircraft did not fly in full NAF livery until April 27, 2026. The newly reported €450 million SACE-backed financing, if it indeed covers the first six-aircraft tranche, would be the financial mechanism underpinning that initial delivery rather than evidence of a new order.
Global Competitors
Nigeria has built a deliberately mixed combat-aircraft inventory rather than standardizing on one supplier: it already operates Pakistani-Chinese JF-17 Thunder fighters and Brazilian-American A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft as the backbone of its counter-insurgency campaign, alongside Chinese-made drones and a first batch of AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters now in production at Bell. The M-346FA competes in the broader light-attack and advanced-trainer category against aircraft such as the KAI/Lockheed Martin T-50/FA-50 family — which several West African and Asian air forces have chosen instead — and Textron’s AT-6 Wolverine. Leonardo’s pitch to Nigeria rested partly on bundling advanced jet training with a genuine light-attack capability in one airframe, reducing the number of distinct type-conversion pipelines the NAF must maintain.
Why It Matters
The M-346FA is meant to replace Nigeria’s Alpha Jet, L-39ZA Albatros and MB-339AN fleets, all of which are decades old and increasingly difficult to sustain, in an air campaign against Boko Haram and ISWAP in the northeast and banditry in the northwest that Nigerian officials have credited with turning the tide in recent years. A reliable, radar-equipped, precision-capable light attack jet would give the Air Force more flexibility than its current mix of older jet trainers pressed into combat roles. The financing structure is also notable on its own terms: like Egypt’s pending request for more Rafales and Morocco’s recent weapons deal with EDGE, it shows European and Gulf manufacturers increasingly relying on government-backed export-credit guarantees — rather than cash sales — to win African defense contracts, embedding Nigeria in a repayment relationship with Italian banks running through 2037 regardless of how quickly the remaining 18 aircraft arrive.
What Happens Next
The clearest near-term marker is whether the first batch of M-346FAs actually lands in Nigeria on or around the reported October 17, 2026 date, or slips again toward the Air Force’s own previously indicated December 2026 timeline — a gap that independent tracking of the aircraft’s ferry flight from Italy should resolve within days to weeks. Beyond the first tranche, Nigeria still has three further six-aircraft batches to receive under the 2023 order, with no published schedule, meaning the program’s full completion likely remains years away. The maintenance hub Leonardo has committed to building in Nigeria, once operational, would be a further indicator of how durable the partnership is intended to be.
FAQ
Has Nigeria received its first M-346FA jets yet?
Not confirmed. The first three aircraft passed factory acceptance testing in Italy in early July 2026. Reports differ on whether physical delivery to Nigeria is scheduled for October 17, 2026, or later, around December 2026.
How is Nigeria paying for the aircraft?
Through a roughly €450 million buyer’s credit led by UniCredit, Crédit Agricole and Banco BPM, fully guaranteed by Italy’s export-credit agency SACE, repayable until 2037. This appears to finance the first six-aircraft tranche of the broader 24-aircraft, €1.2 billion order Nigeria’s presidency confirmed in 2023.
What will Nigeria use the M-346FA for?
Both advanced pilot training and frontline combat roles — precision strike, close air support, air interdiction and air combat — primarily in the ongoing campaign against Boko Haram and ISWAP in northeastern Nigeria and against banditry in the northwest.
What aircraft is the M-346FA replacing?
Nigeria’s Alpha Jet, L-39ZA Albatros and MB-339AN fleets, which have carried light-attack and training duties for decades.
Why has the program taken so long?
Deliveries were originally targeted for late 2024. The first aircraft did not fly in Nigerian livery until April 2026, and factory acceptance testing was not completed until July 2026, reflecting roughly a year and a half of schedule slippage common to complex export financing and production arrangements.
Sources
- Guy Martin, “Nigerian Air Force completes factory acceptance testing for first M-346FA jets,” DefenceWeb, August 3, 2026 — https://defenceweb.co.za/aerospace/aerospace-aerospace/nigerian-air-force-completes-factory-acceptance-testing-for-first-m-346fa-jets/ — testing dates, order structure, official NAF statement.
- “Nigerian Air Force Clears First Leonardo M-346FA Aircraft for Delivery After Factory Acceptance Testing,” Quwa, July 28, 2026 — https://quwa.org/nigeria/nigerian-air-force-clears-first-leonardo-m-346fa-aircraft-for-delivery-after-factory-acceptance-testing/ — fleet context, specifications, delivery slippage.
- “Leonardo receives maxi order from Nigeria, €450 million for aircraft,” MarketScreener/Alliance News, citing Il Messaggero — https://www.marketscreener.com/news/leonardo-receives-maxi-order-from-nigeria-eur450-million-for-aircraft-ce7d51dcd88df126 — financing consortium, SACE guarantee, October 17, 2026 delivery date.
- “Nigeria mit Italien-Kredit zur Leonardo M-346FA,” Militär Aktuell — https://militaeraktuell.at/nigeria-mit-italien-kredit-zur-leonardo-m-346fa/ — financing terms, interest rate, premium payment date.
