From the Sahel to Somalia, weapons and equipment supplied from abroad breaks down quickly, sits idle for lack of maintenance, or requires expertise that local forces are not trained to sustain.
by 
Nate Allen, National Defense University and Joel Amegboh, National Defense University
Africa’s militaries are built on imported power. Foreign countries such as China, Russia, the United States, Turkey and France dominate Africa’s weapons market. Between them they supply everything from small arms to attack helicopters, unmanned systems and communications equipment.
The results are often quite poor. From the Sahel to Somalia, weapons and equipment supplied from abroad breaks down quickly, sits idle for lack of maintenance, or requires expertise that local forces are not trained to sustain.
At the same time, insurgents on motorbikes equipped with AK-47s and improvised explosives gain the upper hand. These issues are quite often due to corruption or mismanagement by African militaries, a problem that has been extensively documented by scholars.
Now, a quiet revolution is underway. Having spent collectively decades researching and working with African militaries, we have noticed a growing trend of discontent with reliance on external actors to build their security forces. As a result, African governments are becoming more determined to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers and build capabilities they can control, maintain and adapt.
Numerous African countries, from Nigeria to Kenya to Morocco, are embracing a combination of disruptive new technologies and partnerships to localise defence supply chains and build local military capabilities. Morocco, the country which has pursued this strategy most successfully, has managed to triple its arms exports over the last few years, and is on its way to becoming a defence manufacturing hub.
Lowered barriers to innovation are offering African countries an opportunity to shift from being security consumers to being producers and even exporters of military equipment and technology. This shift could enable African militaries to more sustainably project and maintain force and capture value from a growing global arms market.
On paper, imported military equipment promises cutting-edge capabilities. In practice, it often delivers frustration.
Nowhere is this clearer than in Mali. Beginning in 2021, Russia supplied Bamako with a “small air force” of dozens of attack helicopters, transport planes and other combat aircraft as part of its expanding security role in the Sahel. This air force no longer exists. The two Sukhoi-25 fighter jets Mali received were lost within months. Of eight Mi-35M and Mi-171 attack helicopters, only one remained serviceable within a year of delivery. Mali’s army was unable to maintain them. Meanwhile, rebel groups using stolen rifles, lightweight anti-aircraft guns and homemade artillery overran military outposts and encircled Bamako.
Even Africa’s better-resourced militaries struggle. South Africa operates one of the continent’s most advanced fleets of fighter aircraft, yet only half of its Swedish-built JAS Gripen aircraft and seven of its 39 Oryx helicopters were serviceable as of mid‑2024 because of parts shortages and maintenance gaps. South Africa’s state-owned arms manufacturer Denel, once a world-class defence and aerospace producer, has declined over the past decade amid financial distress, governance failures and state capture, leading to liquidity shortages, unpaid suppliers and a loss of skilled personnel.
Ghana has one of the region’s most capable fleets. But many of its ships remain unserviceable. Ambitious plans to expand the fleet have been delayed owing to prohibitive costs: one modern corvette costs US$200 million, or half of Ghana’s 2024 military budget.
The growing appeal of homegrown solutions was on display in August 2025, when Nigeria convened 37 African defence chiefs to discuss how to develop local security solutions. Nigeria’s chief of defence at the time, General Christopher Musa, urged his counterparts to innovate on their own terms by investing in “cyber defence, artificial intelligence and indigenous military technology.”
Nigeria has already begun to do so. It is one of the few but growing number of African countries with a cyber warfare command. The country is expanding local production of small arms and ammunition. For example, it is developing rocket systems, and designing AI-enabled wearable devices for a future “smart soldier”.
Nigeria has also become a continental leader in the production of unmanned aerial systems (UAVs). These include lightweight FPV drones, one-way kamikaze drones, and long endurance combat drones. A drone factory in Abuja is now capable of churning out 10,000 drones annually.
Nigeria is not alone. Nine African countries now produce drones, supplying an increasing share of the African market. Twenty-one have launched and own satellites. South Africa, Kenya and Senegal are experimenting with 3D printing (making 3D objects from a digital file by adding successive layers of material) for critical spare parts, drone swarms for border security, and satellite-based communications to reduce dependency on external signals intelligence.
These affordable, adaptable and dual-use technologies allow African armed forces to respond to asymmetric threats from terrorist organisations and criminal networks without bloating defence budgets or waiting for international suppliers.
When domestic production is not immediately possible, African governments are pursuing opportunities for technology transfer and co-production. Sudan’s locally manufactured Zajil-3 multi-role attack drone is a copy of the Ababil-3 drone made by Iran, one of the country’s top external drone suppliers. Morocco is positioning itself as a defence manufacturing hub by partnering with India’s Tata Motors to locally manufacture armoured vehicles. It is also partnering Israel’s Bluebird Aero systems to produce military drones, and is attempting to woo US firms such as Lockheed Martin to invest in local production and maintenance lines.
These trends reflect a broader realisation: in an era of intensifying great-power competition and shifting global alliances, the capacity to make independent defence and security decisions, free from external influence, is a core national security concern.
The cultivation of local supply chains is necessary but not sufficient for Africa’s militaries to overcome the challenges of relying on externally supplied military equipment and technology. Institutional capacity, regulatory frameworks and human capital must be developed in tandem to translate innovation into meaningful outcomes. Cybersecurity, data governance and ethics must also be taken into consideration, ensuring that technological sovereignty does not become a liability. The embrace of technology will do little to make African citizens safer if it is used to entrench corrupt elites or abuse human rights.
Finally, while greater independence in the production of defence platforms and technology is a worthy goal, total autonomy is a fantasy. For higher-end military systems such as advanced missiles, frontier AI, manned combat aircraft, and key components such as chips and semiconductors, African governments will maintain some degree of dependency on external actors for a long time to come.
The next phase of Africa’s defence transformation needs to move beyond acquiring advanced technology and equipment. It needs to ensure they are suited to the continent’s unique threats, and that they are locally managed and maintained.
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University or the Department of Defense.
Nate Allen, Associate Professor of Security Studies, National Defense University and Joel Amegboh, Assistant Professor of Security Studies, National Defense University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
