Is The New U.S. Drone Base In Niger Worth The Cost?

Akhilesh Pillalamarri, Defense News: Is the new US drone base in Niger worth the cost?

For decades, large parts of Africa have been home to local radicals and militants. But these local radicals do not present a direct threat to U.S. national security — so does their mere existence justify the construction of a new drone base that has a price tag of $100 million?

The cost of operating the facility, located in the middle of the Sahara desert in Agadez, Niger, is estimated at $30 million a year. By the end of the 10-year agreement for the use of the site in 2024, named Nigerien Air Base 201, the U.S. will have spent around $280 million.

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WNU Editor: Are the militants in the region a threat to the U.S.? The above commentator believes not. In my opinion .... I am not sure. But I do agree that we should have a debate on what are our goals in this part of Africa, to define our objectives, and to explain to the public on what needs to be done. Conducting foreign policy without public input has not worked out well for the U.S. since 9/11, doubly so in places like Niger.

U.S. Drone Base In Niger Is Half-Finished

New York Times: A Shadowy War’s Newest Front: A Drone Base Rising From Saharan Dust

AIR BASE 201, Niger — Rising from a barren stretch of African scrubland, a half-finished drone base represents the newest front line in America’s global shadow war.

At its center, hundreds of Air Force personnel are feverishly working to complete a $110 million airfield that, when finished in the coming months, will be used to stalk or strike extremists deep into West and North Africa, a region where most Americans have no idea the country is fighting.

Near the nascent runway, Army Green Berets are training Nigerien forces to carry out counterterrorism raids or fend off an enemy ambush — like the one that killed four American soldiers near the Mali border last fall.

Taken together, these parallel missions reflect a largely undeclared American military buildup outside the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, often with murky authorities and little public attention, unfolding in remote places like Yemen, Somalia and, increasingly, West Africa.

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WNU Editor: Niger's Defense Minister wants these drones to be armed .... Niger Defense Minister Wants The U.S. To Deploy Armed Drones Against Militants (November 1, 2017).

A $100 Million U.S. Drone Base In Africa

Image: BBC

The Intercept: U.S. Military Is Building a $100 Million Drone Base in Africa

FROM HIGH ABOVE, Agadez almost blends into the cocoa-colored wasteland that surrounds it. Only when you descend farther can you make out a city that curves around an airfield before fading into the desert. Once a nexus for camel caravans hauling tea and salt across the Sahara, Agadez is now a West African paradise for people smugglers and a way station for refugees and migrants intent on reaching Europe’s shores by any means necessary.

Africans fleeing unrest and poverty are not, however, the only foreigners making their way to this town in the center of Niger. U.S. military documents reveal new information about an American drone base under construction on the outskirts of the city. The long-planned project — considered the most important U.S. military construction effort in Africa, according to formerly secret files obtained by The Intercept through the Freedom of Information Act — is slated to cost $100 million, and is just one of a number of recent American military initiatives in the impoverished nation.

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More News On A New U.S. Drone Base In Africa

US Building '$50 Million Drone Base' in Niger -- Newsweek
The US put a $100 million drone base next to a world heritage site -- VICE News
Pentagon Confirms Plans to Build Drone Base in Africa's Poorest Country -- Sputnik
US invests $50m in Niger drone base for counterterrorism -- BBC
US Agadez Drone Base In Niger To Cost At Least $50 Million -- IBTimes
Key US drone hub in Africa doubles in price to $100mn – report -- RT

U.S. To Cease Launching Drone Operations From Ethiopia

Image from The Economist

Mail & Guardian: US military stops launching drones from Ethiopia, but can still fly from Djibouti or Seychelles

By 2014 US troops were carrying out almost two operations, exercises, or activities somewhere in Africa every day.

THE US military has stopped flying drones from the southern Ethiopian town of Arba Minch, which they had used since 2011, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Ethiopia said.

The two countries agreed that a US presence in Arba Minch isn’t needed at the moment, the spokesman, David Kennedy, said in an e-mail on Saturday.

Ethiopia borders Somalia, whose government is battling Al Qaeda-aligned Islamic militants Al-Shabaab with the support of the international community.

Update #1: The US Is Ending Drone Operations In Ethiopia -- Newsy
Update #2: US drone base used to target Islamic extremists shut down in Ethiopia -- i24 News
Update #3: U.S. Military Stops Launching Drones From Ethiopia, Embassy Says -- Bloomberg

WNU Editor: There are other bases .... and more pressing problems to address .... for the U.S. to go to.

U.S. Operates Secret Drone Bases In Somalia

© US Air Force

Foreign Policy: Exclusive: U.S. Operates Drones From Secret Bases in Somalia

Two decades after “Black Hawk Down,” U.S. special operations forces are back in East Africa’s most troubled nation. FP provides a rare window into their shadowy operations.

KISMAYO, Somalia — Some say the Americans are everywhere. Some say they are nowhere. Still others say they are everywhere and nowhere at once. But the shadowy U.S. presence in this strategic port city in war-torn southern Somalia has clear consequences for anyone with a share of power here. That includes Somali regional officials who are quick to praise American counterterrorism efforts, African Union forces who rely on U.S. intelligence as they battle back al-Shabab, and even the al Qaeda-linked militants themselves, who are increasingly hemmed in by a lethal combination of AU-led counterinsurgency, airstrikes, and raids by U.S. special operators.

Based out of a fortress of fading green Hesco barriers at the ramshackle airport in Kismayo, a team of special operators from the Joint Special Operations Command, the elite U.S. military organization famous for killing Osama bin Laden, flies drones and carries out other counterterrorism activities, multiple Somali government and African Union sources have confirmed. Their presence in this volatile city, which until 2012 was controlled by al-Shabab, has not previously been reported. Nor has the United States acknowledged operating drones from Somali soil. (Unmanned armed and surveillance flights are said to originate from Camp Lemonnier in nearby Djibouti or from bases in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia.)

Update: US Operates Top Secret Drone Bases Inside Somalia -- Sputnik

WNU Editor: 20 years after Black Hawk Down this is a confirmation that U.S. special forces have returned to Somalia. No debate .... no discussion .... no Congressional vote .... but for all intents and purposes the U.S. is now directly involved in Somalia's civil war.

New Drone Base Gives The U.S. A Strategic Place In West Africa

Source: U.S. Africa Command. The Washington Post.

Drone Base In Niger Gives U.S. A Strategic Foothold In West Africa -- Washington Post

NIAMEY, Niger — The newest outpost in the U.S. government’s empire of drone bases sits behind a razor-wire-topped wall outside this West African capital, blasted by 110-degree heat and the occasional sandstorm blowing from the Sahara.

The U.S. Air Force began flying a handful of unarmed Predator drones from here last month. The gray, mosquito-shaped aircraft emerge sporadically from a borrowed hangar and soar north in search of al-Qaeda fighters and guerrillas from other groups hiding in the region’s untamed deserts and hills.

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My Comment: I suspect that with time this drone base and it's scope of operations will expand to cover most .... if not all .... of western Africa.

Is This America's Secret Drone Base In Saudi Arabia?

Click on Image to Enlarge. Image: via Bing Maps

Is This The Secret U.S. Drone Base In Saudi Arabia? -- Danger Room

These satellite images show a remote airstrip deep in the desert of Saudi Arabia. It may or may not be the secret U.S. drone base revealed by reporters earlier this week. But the base’s hangars bear a remarkable resemblance to similar structures found on other American drone outposts. And its remote location — dozens of miles from the nearest highway, and farther still to the nearest town – suggests that this may be more than the average civilian airstrip.

According to accounts from the Washington Post and The New York Times, the U.S. built its secret Saudi base approximately two years ago. Its first lethal mission was in September of 2011: a strike on Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born propagandist for al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia.

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Previous Post: The U.S. Has Been Operating A Secret Drone Base In Saudi Arabia For Over A Year (Updated)

My Comment: It is amazing what you can find in the desert.

Niger Agrees To Host U.S. Drone Base

US Signs Deal With Niger To Operate Military Drones In West African State -- The Guardian

Mali Islamists' war reveals paucity of west's intelligence on Sahel and Sahara but Pentagon's move could backfire, analysts warn.

The US government appears close to opening a new front in its fight against Islamist militants by planning a new base for surveillance drones in the west African country of Niger.

American forces are already assisting a French offensive in neighbouring Mali that is aimed at recapturing the country's northern desert territory from the hands of Islamist rebels.

But on Monday the US signed a military agreement with Niger that paves the way legally for US forces to operate on its soil and prompted a series of reports in the US media that the Pentagon was keen on opening a new drones base there.

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More News On The US Establishing A Drone Base In Northwest Africa

Niger gives green light to U.S. drone deployment: source -- Reuters
U.S. to establish military presence next to Mali -- CNN
U.S. Drone Base In Africa Approved By Niger -- Huffington Post
U.S. plans to add drone base in West Africa -- Washington Post
Official: U.S. Military Plans Drone Base Near Mali -- Defense News/AFP
US to establish new drone base in northwest Africa: officials -- Global Post
Planned US Drone Base Near Mali Marks Latest American Expansion In Africa -- Business Insider
U.S. wants Africa drone base -- UPI
U.S. to build drone base in Africa to combat terrorists: report -- Xinhuanet
US planning for new drone base in Northwest Africa, officials say -- FOX News
Official: US considers setting up drone base in North Africa, Niger a strong possibility -- Washington Post/AP
US Military Plans Drone Base in Northwest Africa -- Voice of America
US considering new drone base in Africa - report -- RT
U.S. likely to establish new drone base in northwest Africa -- Salon
DOD eyes potential drone base in Africa -- Politico
U.S. Drone Base Would Make Africa the New Home of the War on Terror -- The Atlantic