
Boko Haram Is Back and With Better Drones - bookofjoe
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/world/africa/nigeria-boko-haram.html
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xvilka
Interesting, that at the same time, Lagos[1], the biggest city on the African
continent has one of the best growth potential[2][3]. I think it is a perfect
time to open international companies branches or whole new startups. If you
check[4] Crunchbase, you will find there are already 165 startups. Their
legislation and policies are friendly to foreign capital, and you can open a
bank account entirely online.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagos)

[2]
[https://www.ft.com/content/ff0595e4-26de-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d5...](https://www.ft.com/content/ff0595e4-26de-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0)

[3] [https://thenationonlineng.net/imf-lagos-will-
grow-4-136b-201...](https://thenationonlineng.net/imf-lagos-will-
grow-4-136b-2019/)

[4] [https://www.crunchbase.com/hub/lagos-
startups](https://www.crunchbase.com/hub/lagos-startups)

------
adventured
The attack yesterday on Saudi Arabia's major oil processing facilities at
Abqaiq and Khurais, are another recent highlight of the shift in the long-
feared threat potential that drones are starting to deliver on in actuality.

James Krane, Middle East Energy Specialist, Rice University: "The asymmetry of
this is obvious. You have one of the world’s largest consumers of advanced
weaponry basically defenseless in the face of drones that cost less than
$1,000 and from a country that is so poor and disorganized it is undergoing a
cholera epidemic and widespread starvation."

[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-aramco-fire-
reactio...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-aramco-fire-
reaction/instant-view-reactions-to-attack-on-saudi-oil-facilities-
idUSKBN1VZ0JP?il=0)

~~~
parsimo2010
The attack on Saudi Arabia was claimed by the Houthis which are funded and
trained by Iran, and they have Iranian special forces embedded in their units
as well. The Houthis are basically a professional military, more than most
people realize. They are fighting a proxy war for Iran. The drones that
attacked the Saudi oil plants were almost certainly not consumer drones
carrying hand grenades, they were actual military drones provided by Iran.

The "asymmetry" that is mentioned is a great soundbite but isn't really
accurate. The Houthis either control half or all of Yemen, depending on who
you talk to. They aren't exactly pushovers. Compare that to Saudi Arabia,
whose military is lazy and poorly trained. They rely on the US presence for
security against real threats. Without the USA, they would almost certainly
lose a fight against Iran. They are rich and have cool toys but it's laughable
at how bad their training is.

To expand, the Houthis likely used drones like this with 60 lbs of explosive
stuffed in it:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Ababil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Ababil).
That's a far cry from the $1,000 drone that an academic from Rice University
would have you believe.

~~~
Ididntdothis
“ They are fighting a proxy war for Iran. ”

People always think that people who are fighting on their home soil are
fighting a proxy war for someone else but have no goals themselves . From what
I have read they want to get rid of Saudi Arabia and Iran is helping them. But
their main motivation is not Iran. It was the same in the Vietnam war. North
Vietnam was supported by China and Russia but their main motivation was to get
colonial powers out of the country.

~~~
parsimo2010
They may have their own reasons for fighting, but all their money and
equipment is provided by Iran. If not for Iran's support, the civil war in
Yemen and further conflict with Saudi Arabia could not have happened. Iran
provided their support because the Houthis are accomplishing Iran's goals. So
this is Iran's war fought using someone else's sons.

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parsimo2010
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.

~~~
heraclius
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.

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woliveirajr
At small scale (not a widespread conflict like traditional wars), there is a
huge assymetry in power and attack x defense.

You can use small, cheap, or daily-use things to attack, and to protect
yourself it's always necessary money, time and being paranoic.

You can't intercept a $500 drone with just a $500 drone.

~~~
seblbj
This is very logical. Good point!

