The operation focuses solely on surveillance and advisory support, with no U.S. personnel involved in frontline combat and no drone airstrikes being conducted.
The United States has sent several MQ-9 drones and approximately 200 troops to Nigeria to assist in providing intelligence and training support to the Nigerian military in its ongoing fight against insurgents in the northern region.
The operation focuses solely on surveillance and advisory support, with no U.S. personnel involved in frontline combat and no drone airstrikes being conducted.
“The U.S. military has deployed multiple MQ-9 drones and 200 troops to Nigeria to provide training and intelligence support to the military,” U.S. and Nigerian officials confirmed to Reuters.
According to Reuters, the deployment was requested by Nigerian authorities to help identify, track, and address terrorist threats in the region.
“We view this as a shared security threat,” a U.S. defense official said, emphasizing that the mission is limited to intelligence collection and advisory assistance.
Major General Samaila Uba, director of defense information at Nigeria’s Defense Headquarters, confirmed that U.S. forces are operating from Bauchi airfield in the northeast.
“This support builds on the newly established U.S.-Nigeria intelligence fusion cell, which continues to provide actionable intelligence to our field commanders. Our U.S. partners are strictly in a non-combat role, enabling operations led by Nigerian authorities,” he added.
The MQ-9 drones, also known as Reaper drones, have the ability to loiter at high altitudes for over 27 hours and are capable of both intelligence gathering and strike missions. However, U.S. and Nigerian officials clarified that the drones currently in Nigeria are being used exclusively for surveillance purposes.
“Our U.S. forces are assisting Nigeria in identifying, tracking, and responding to terrorist threats,” Uba said, though he did not provide further details on specific operations.
The deployment comes amid rising violence in Nigeria’s northeast and northwest. On March 16, suicide bombers attacked a military base in the northeast, highlighting the ongoing threat posed by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
“We continue to assess that these groups will target opportunistic sites and may attempt high-profile attacks to assert their presence,” Uba noted.
The Nigerian military stated that the duration of the current U.S. deployment will be determined in consultation with American partners.
The mission underscores a growing emphasis on intelligence-sharing and capacity-building to address evolving insurgent threats across northern Nigeria.
This deployment follows U.S. airstrikes on Christmas Day, authorized by President Donald Trump, targeting ISIS-linked terrorist factions in northwest Nigeria.
The Federal Government confirmed that the strikes were part of a coordinated security effort with international allies to combat terrorism and violent extremism.
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