{"id":17360,"date":"2018-04-30T20:38:37","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T20:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/04\/30\/trump-trips-up-on-attack-aircraft-sale-to-nigeria\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:40:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:40:02","slug":"trump-trips-up-on-attack-aircraft-sale-to-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2018\/04\/30\/trump-trips-up-on-attack-aircraft-sale-to-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump gaffes on attack aircraft sale to Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday sought to trumpet last year\u2019s $600 million deal<\/a> for military aircraft previously blocked by the Obama administration over human rights concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Trump tripped up at their Rose Garden news conference, following the lead of a foreign reporter\u2019s question about the turboprop A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft<\/a> at the heart of the deal, repeatedly calling them \u201chelicopters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe make the best military equipment in the world, and our friends can now buy that equipment,\u201d Trump said. This administration has championed a more transactional foreign policy, and Trump was in full dealmaker-in-chief mode.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An A-29B Super Tucano patrols the skies of the Dominican Republic. (Courtesy of Lt. Col. Jonas Reynoso)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, the Nigerian government did take delivery of foreign-made military helicopters on Monday, according to a Nigerian Air Force release: Two Mi-35M helicopter gunships from America\u2019s strategic competitor, Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe love helicopters. He loves them more than I do,\u201d Trump said of Buhari, who was standing beside him at a separate podium. \u201cHe likes buying helicopters, and they\u2019re buying a lot of helicopters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reporter, saying Nigeria was in \u201cdire need\u201d of the Super Tucano to \u201caddress the problems back home,\u201d asked Trump whether he would \u201cbe kind enough\u201d to release at least two by 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReal soon,\u201d Trump told her. \u201cPart of the problem is you weren\u2019t allowed to buy helicopters in our country and now you are. I worked that out so that now you can buy the helicopters that you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey weren\u2019t allowed to buy the helicopters for various reasons, which frankly weren\u2019t good reasons. Now they get them, and they get them very quickly, and they are the best helicopters in the world,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He touted the deal as the first-ever sale of American military equipment to Nigeria, calling the country \u201ca valued partner and a good friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buhari earlier on at the news conference thanked the U.S. for the A-29s. He left unspoken that President Barack Obama<\/mark> blocked the deal amid concerns from lawmakers typified by a Nigerian Air Force attack on a displaced persons\u2019 camp in 2017 that killed more than 100 civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\t