- US troops provide training, intelligence support to Nigerian military
- US MQ-9 drones now based in Nigeria for intelligence, not air strikes
- No fixed timeline for US deployment in Nigeria -officials
The U.S. military has deployed multiple MQ-9 drones in Nigeria alongside 200 troops to provide training and intelligence support to the military which is fighting Islamist terrorists across the Northern region, U.S. and Nigerian officials told Reuters.
The troops are not integrated within Nigerian units on the frontline and the drones are collecting intelligence and not carrying out airstrikes, officials from the two countries said.
Specifically, a U.S. defence official said the drones were deployed alongside troops at the request of the Nigerian government to collect intelligence.
“We see this as a shared security threat,” the official told Reuters news agency.
Director of Defence Information, Defence Headquarters, Major General Samaila Uba, confirmed that the U.S. was operating assets from Bauchi airfield in Nigeria’s Northeast 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 U.S. partners remain in a strictly non-combat role, enabling operations led by Nigerian authorities.”
General Uba said the timeline for the United States’ deployment in Nigeria would be determined in agreement by both sides.
MQ-9 drones, which are sometimes known as Reaper drones and can loiter at high altitude for more than 27 hours, can be used for both intelligence gathering and airstrikes.
But the two officials stressed the troops were not integrated within Nigerian units on the frontline and the drones are not carrying out airstrikes.
However, the U.S. deployment, which follows US airstrikes targeting militants in northwest Nigeria in late 2025, shows Washington getting involved once more in tackling Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked insurgencies that are spreading across West Africa.
Long partnership
Washington has had a long partnership with Nigeria’s military, providing training and selling weapons.
The U.S. military previously had a $100 million drone base in neighbouring Niger with about 1,000 troops monitoring militants across the Sahel region. It closed in 2024 after the Niger junta requested their departure – part of a broader rejection of western military support by countries in the Sahel region.
The US carried out airstrikes in the northwest on Christmas Day, saying it was aimed at stopping the targeting of Christians in the region.
Nigeria’s government and experts on the conflict have rejected claims of a concerted anti-Christian campaign, saying it oversimplifies a complex crisis.
Suicide bombers launched an assault on the northeastern Nigerian garrison town of Maiduguri on 16 March, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack.
Uba said it was still being investigated, adding that both Boko Haram militants and ISWAP, an Islamic State-allied faction, remain a persistent threat, adapting their tactics over time.
Written with reports from Reuters, RFI
