A strange plane at JKIA and the power of innovation

Passed through JKIA lately? Did you notice three strange-looking planes parked on the edge of the airport? I did on September 21, 2026. The planes have engines facing upwards! A quick search using artificial intelligence (AI) shows they are American-made V-22 Ospreys.

They can fly upwards like helicopters but also forward like normal planes. That makes them very versatile; they can be used in more places, unlike normal planes.

The plane shares the name with a common bird that migrates to Africa in winter, sometimes making unbelievably long journeys.

Why bother with this plane?

I would be curious to know what they are doing there. I saw some Hercules too, counted about five.  Is it about geopolitics or economics? Are they heading somewhere, or are they at home?

Does their presence show the strategic importance of Kenya, with so many hot spots from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Sudan and lately the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb?

Were some military games taking place around? Does their presence demonstrate the US–Kenya relationship? Is that a factor in the 2027 polls?

The origin of the Osprey is fascinating. The failure to rescue American hostages in Iran in 1980 due to the malfunction of some helicopters led to the development of the Osprey. The grudge between the two countries has a long and bitter history.

The design and development of the Osprey tested the ingenuity of engineers. But that is part of the United States (US) pioneering spirit. They got the light bulb, the plane, the assembly line, telephone, telegraph, helicopter, computers, internet and more lately, the mRNA vaccine.

Add space exploration and the large language models (LLMs) that now characterise AI. Add the fascinating Agentic AI that has been hacking other systems. Remember Gemini? Grok? Claude, ChatGPT, among others. Owning an AI model is the new status symbol in the United States (US).

 In Kenya? It is easy to explain why the US is rattled by Chinese innovations.

AI is different from Osprey. Innovations demonstrate our use of brains to make a product, a process or new knowledge.  AI started mimicking the brain itself, with the fears thereof. The only other technology we feared that much was nuclear bombs. Curiously, AI developers are calling for a slowdown; Trump says we should not because the Chinese could win the AI race. Africa could ask, why slow down when we have not even started? Where is Africa’s LLM?

Innovations fascinate us, but they should not. Most are copied from nature. The Osprey plane simply copied a soaring bird; the engine copied our walking, and our legs go up and down like engine pistons or cycling a bicycle. Even a mobile phone is about us talking. The radar copied the bat. Innovation is about who can copy nature more easily.

What is completely new under the sun? The Osprey plane mimics the dragonfly, especially when it’s annoyed! And most insects and birds easily fly down and forward, backwards?  We have no excuse not to be innovators.

The curious plane raises another question: why does the military originate so many innovations? One could be the availability of resources. Research and development (R&D) is expensive, and the military gets the money easily when national security is invoked.

Two, such innovations eventually get commercialised, and the public gets dividends for funding the R&D. The diffusion of the innovation can be controlled to get maximum returns.

Not just financially but also psychologically. Owning weapons or technology others do not have makes a country feel proud and safe and serves as a deterrent to potential attackers.

 Think of the effect on the American psyche when Russians, or the USSR, got the nuclear bomb.  You can explain why the US and Israel are determined to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.

Why else does the US restrict the export of some technology, like what underlies AI?

The pride of winning the AI race against China is the main reason Trump wants AI development to go on. Remember who won the Cold War?

Osprey plane raises questions about our commitment and investment in R&D. Not just in planes but other sectors. Think of railways, phones, the internet and now AI; why no Kenyan LLM like Gemini, Grok or ChatGPT?

The sight of Osprey should lead to another question: why not our own plane? If not for war, then for peace. After 60 years, we should be having something we are proud of beyond new dances, political parties and trying to control everyone and everything. 

When we see something new, do we think of buying it or making something like it or even better? A plane, a car, software, a phone, an AI model, among others.

Why not design our Osprey with a local name like Bundi for owl, Igogo for crow or Okoge.  We can go beyond Osprey and make our plane that can fly backwards!