The United States has deployed several MQ-9 drones and around 200 troops to Nigeria to assist in the fight against Islamist militants, US and Nigerian officials told Reuters news agency.
According to US officials, the troops are not embedded with Nigerian frontline units, and the drones are strictly focused on intelligence-gathering, with no airstrikes being conducted.
Previously, the US operated a $100 million drone base in neighbouring Niger, with roughly 1,000 troops monitoring militant activity across the Sahel. The facility was closed in 2024 after Niger’s military government ordered US forces to withdraw.
A US defence official said the current deployment to Nigeria was made at the country’s request and is primarily aimed at bolstering intelligence-gathering efforts. “We see this as a shared security threat”, the official told Reuters.
The Director of Defence Information at Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters, Major-General Sama’ila Uba, confirmed that US assets are operating from the Bauchi airfield in the North-East region.
“This support builds on the newly established US-Nigeria intelligence fusion cell, which continues to deliver actionable intelligence to our field commanders”, he told Reuters. “Our US partners remain in a strictly non-combat role, enabling operations led by Nigerian authorities”, he added.
