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What a misleading title, there is almost no mention of drones in the article at all (the current HN title is the title of the article, so I don't fault OP). If

by parsimo2010 7y ago

What a misleading title, there is almost no mention of drones in the article at all (the current HN title is the title of the article, so I don't fault OP). If you're looking for some discussion of military drones, here you go: TBH, there are hobyists in the USA with better RC planes than the Nigerian military. The Nigerian Air Force doesn't operate any decent military drones such as the GA Predator or the Chengdu Wing Loon. Their biggest and best drone is the Israeli Aerostar and their domestic copy. It's tiny, has crappy sensors, and doesn't carry much payload. The Nigerian Army literally uses DJI Phantoms for some reconnaissance missions, which you can buy from Amazon. Boko Haram is a fairly well funded branch of ISIS. They supplement their ISIS funding with kidnapping ransoms. They have captured military equipment from Syria and Iraq, some of which was pretty good compared to the other militaries in the Middle East and Africa. I don't know what drones they are using (the article sucks), but I wouldn't be surprised at all if they are better than what the Nigerian military has.

aaron695 7y ago
As far as I can see from a quick look at Boko Haram's propaganda wing the best is a normal drone with a camera, no evidence it's been used in the field. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYwi8BFVDzQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYwi8BFVDzQ) This is just the nytimes.com working for Boko Haram's propaganda machine. Perhaps once removed since I'm sure they are repeating local media, but equally it would not have taken long to fact check their sources which they know are not reliable, basically they know this claim is going to be false but it's a good news story so don't look to hard. Nigeria has/had Chinese CH-3's https://twitter.com/abraxasspa/status/644827538020257792 https://twitter.com/abraxasspa/status/644827538020257792 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CASC_Rainbow#CH-3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CASC_Rainbow#CH-3 ISIS style organisations using drones I'd say involves trained solders who have moved over, educated engineers in Iraq and Syria for instance or places they have access to support from countries like Iran (ie in Yemen), not Boko Haram.
heraclius 7y ago
Daesh in Iraq and Syria are or were indeed well-funded and equipped, especially after they seized most of the reserves at the Mosul branch of the central bank. But I’m a bit confused as to how they’d manage to get substantial quantities of military equipment to Nigeria. I imagine it is at the very least rather difficult and expensive to do so, so they probably wouldn’t go round sending equipment willy-nilly.

aaron695 7y ago

As far as I can see from a quick look at Boko Haram's propaganda wing the best is a normal drone with a camera, no evidence it's been used in the field. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYwi8BFVDzQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYwi8BFVDzQ) This is just the nytimes.com working for Boko Haram's propaganda machine. Perhaps once removed since I'm sure they are repeating local media, but equally it would not have taken long to fact check their sources which they know are not reliable, basically they know this claim is going to be false but it's a good news story so don't look to hard. Nigeria has/had Chinese CH-3's https://twitter.com/abraxasspa/status/644827538020257792 https://twitter.com/abraxasspa/status/644827538020257792 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CASC_Rainbow#CH-3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CASC_Rainbow#CH-3 ISIS style organisations using drones I'd say involves trained solders who have moved over, educated engineers in Iraq and Syria for instance or places they have access to support from countries like Iran (ie in Yemen), not Boko Haram.

heraclius 7y ago

Daesh in Iraq and Syria are or were indeed well-funded and equipped, especially after they seized most of the reserves at the Mosul branch of the central bank. But I’m a bit confused as to how they’d manage to get substantial quantities of military equipment to Nigeria. I imagine it is at the very least rather difficult and expensive to do so, so they probably wouldn’t go round sending equipment willy-nilly.