This is a guest post by Allen Grane, research associate for the Council on Foreign Relations Africa Studies program. Allen is an officer in the U.S. Army National Guard. In early September there were reports that the Nigerian military captured a “quad barreled ZSU-23-4 Shilka” anti-aircraft gun that was mounted on a Toyota technical truck, from Boko Haram. Sahara Reporters later confirmed that the Nigerian military captured heavy weapons systems from Boko Haram such as a T-55 tank and a Panhard ERC-90 “Sagaie.” Now that we know the kind of weaponry in Boko Haram’s possession, we are left with two major questions. First, can Boko Haram operate these weapons systems? While T-55’s and ZSU-23-4 “Shilka’s” are not the most advanced weapon systems, it does require some training to operate these systems properly (in Shekau’s latest video he loses control of a heavy machine gun he was firing). With time and practice, it is quite feasible that Boko Haram insurgents could learn to use these ...
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