{"id":80551,"date":"2016-10-03T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=80551"},"modified":"2016-10-01T15:48:27","modified_gmt":"2016-10-01T14:48:27","slug":"u-s-military-is-building-a-100-million-drone-base-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/10\/u-s-military-is-building-a-100-million-drone-base-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Military Is Building a $100 Million Drone Base in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"drone-base-usa-sahara-agadez-niger-pentagon-africom\"<\/a>

Photo: Google Earth<\/p><\/div>\n

29 Sep 2016 – <\/em>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<\/a> tea and salt across the Sahara, Agadez is now a West African paradise for people smugglers and a way station for refugees and migrants<\/a> intent on reaching Europe\u2019s shores by any means necessary.<\/p>\n

\"Document:<\/a>

Document: U.S. Africa Command<\/p><\/div>\n

Africans fleeing<\/a> 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 \u2014 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 \u2014 is slated to cost $100 million, and is just one of a number of recent American military initiatives in the impoverished<\/a> nation.<\/p>\n

The base is the latest sign, experts say, of an ever-increasing emphasis on counterterror operations in the north and west of the continent. As the only country in the region willing to allow a U.S. base for MQ-9 Reapers \u2014 a newer, larger, and potentially more lethal model than the venerable Predator drone \u2014 Niger has positioned itself to be the key regional hub for U.S. military operations, with Agadez serving as the premier outpost for launching intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions against a plethora of terror groups.<\/p>\n

For years, the U.S. operated from an air base in Niamey, Niger\u2019s capital, but in early 2014, Capt. Rick Cook, then chief of U.S. Africa Command\u2019s Engineer Division, mentioned the potential for a new \u201csemi-permanent \u2026 base-like facility\u201d in Niger.\u00a0That September, the Washington Post\u2019s Craig Whitlock exposed plans to base drones at Agadez.\u00a0Within days, the U.S. Embassy in Niamey announced that AFRICOM was, indeed, \u201cassessing the possibility of establishing a temporary, expeditionary contingency support location\u201d there. The outpost, according to the communiqu\u00e9, \u201cpresents an attractive option from which to base ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) assets given its proximity to the threats in the region and the complexity of operating with the vast distance of African geography.\u201d<\/p>\n

Air Force documents submitted to Congress in 2015 note<\/a> that the U.S. \u201cnegotiated an agreement with the government of Niger to allow for the construction of a new runway and all associated pavements, facilities, and infrastructure adjacent to the Niger Armed Force\u2019s Base Aerienne 201 (Airbase 201) south of the city of Agadez.\u201d When the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2016 was introduced last April, embedded in it was a $50 million request for the construction of an \u201cairfield and base camp at Agadez, Niger \u2026 to support operations in western Africa.\u201d\u00a0When President Obama signed the defense bill, that sum was authorized<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reporting by The Intercept found the true cost to be double that sum. In addition to the $50 million to \u201cconstruct Air Base 201,\u201d another $38 million in operation and maintenance (O&M) funds was\u00a0slated to be spent \u201cto support troop labor and ancillary equipment,\u201d according to a second set of undated, heavily redacted, formerly secret documents obtained from U.S. Africa Command by The Intercept. But the $38 million O&M price tag \u2014 for expenses like fuel and troops\u2019 per diem \u2014 has already jumped to $50 million, according to new figures provided by the Pentagon, while sustainment costs are now projected at $12.8 million per year.<\/p>\n

\"Airmen<\/a>

Airmen from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, prepare to convoy to an airfield near Agadez, Niger, April 29, 2016.
Photo: Jeffrey McGovern\/U.S. Air Force<\/p><\/div>\n

The files obtained by The Intercept attest to the importance of Agadez for future missions by drones, also known as remotely piloted aircraft or RPAs. \u201cThe top MILCON<\/a> [military construction] project for USAFRICOM is located in Agadez, Niger to construct a C-17 and MQ-9 capable airfield,\u201d reads a 2015 planning document. \u201cRPA presence in NW Africa<\/a> supports operations against seven [Department of State]-designated foreign terrorist organizations. Moving operations to Agadez aligns persistent ISR to current and emerging threats over Niger and Chad, supports French regionalization and extends range to cover Libya and Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pentagon is tight-lipped about the outpost, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to operational security considerations, we don\u2019t release details on numbers of personnel or specific missions or locations, including information regarding the Nigerien military air base located in Agadez,\u201d Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle L. Baldanza told The Intercept in an email, stressing that drones are not yet flying from the outpost. However, the declassified documents say construction will be completed next year.<\/p>\n

The documents offer further details<\/a>, including plans for a 1,830-meter paved asphalt runway capable of supporting C-17 cargo aircraft and \u201cmiscellaneous light and medium load aircraft\u201d; a 17,458-square-meter parking apron and taxiway for \u201clight load ISR aircraft\u201d; and the installation of \u201cthree 140\u2019 x 140\u2019 relocatable fabric tension aircraft hangars\u201d; as well as all the standard infrastructure for troops, including \u201cforce protection\u201d measures like barriers, fences, and an \u201cEntry Control Point.\u201d<\/p>\n

While AFRICOM failed to respond to requests for information about the projects, a May 2016 satellite photo of the site provides a status report. \u201cThe image shows that the main runway \u2026 has been repaved,\u201d said Dan Gettinger, the co-founder and co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College and author of a guide<\/a> to identifying drone bases from satellite imagery. \u201cNear the runway there\u2019s a structure that appears to be a future hangar, though it\u2019s still under construction. There\u2019s also a new dirt road that runs a fair distance from the runway to a U.S. base that\u2019s enclosed with a perimeter wall and there are a number of shelters there for personnel as well as a command center. All the things that you\u2019d expect on a base.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Satellite<\/a>

Satellite images of site of U.S. drone base outside Agadez, Niger.
Photo: Google Earth<\/p><\/div>\n

According to the documents, Niger was the \u201conly country<\/a> in NW Africa willing to allow basing of MQ-9s,\u201d the larger, newer cousins of the Predator drone. The documents went on to note<\/a>: \u201cPresident expressed willingness to support armed RPAs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. military activity in Niger is not isolated. \u201cThere\u2019s a trend toward greater engagement and a more permanent presence in West Africa \u2014 the Maghreb and the Sahel,\u201d noted Adam Moore of the department of geography at the University of California in Los Angeles and the co-author of an academic study<\/a> of the U.S. military\u2019s presence in Africa.<\/p>\n

Since 9\/11, in fact, the United States has poured vast amounts of military aid into the region. In 2002, for example, the State Department launched a counterterrorism program \u2014 known as the Pan-Sahel Initiative, which later became the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) \u2014 to assist the militaries of Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. Between 2009 and 2013 alone, the U.S. allocated<\/a> $288 million in TSCTP funding, according to a 2014 report by the Government Accountability Office. Niger was one of the top three recipients, netting more than $30 million.<\/p>\n

\"Niger<\/a>

Niger and neighboring countries.
Image: The Intercept<\/p><\/div>\n

U.S. special operations forces regularly<\/a> train<\/a> with Niger\u2019s army and the U.S. has transferred<\/a> millions of dollars\u2019 worth of planes, trucks, and other gear to that impoverished nation. In a 2015 report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee\u2019s Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, Lauren Ploch Blanchard of the Congressional Research Service noted that since 2006 Niger had received more than $82 million in assistance through the Department of Defense\u2019s Global Train and Equip program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn close coordination with partner militaries in West Africa, including Niger, USAFRICOM supports a range of security and capacity building efforts in the greater Sahelian region,\u201d Baldanza told The Intercept. \u201cThese efforts support U.S. diplomatic and national security objectives and are designed to strengthen relationships with African partners, promote stability and security, and enable our African partners to address their security threats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A U.S. Army trainer coaches a Republic of Niger soldier on marksmanship techniques at an AK-47 qualification range near Agadez, Niger.
Photo: Spc. Craig Philbrick\/U.S. Army Africa<\/p><\/div>\n

Stability and security have, however, proved elusive. In 2010, for example, a military junta overthrew<\/a> Niger\u2019s president as he attempted to extend his rule. In fact, all the original members of the Pan-Sahel Initiative have fallen victim to military uprisings. Chad saw attempted coups in 2006 and 2013, members of Mauritania\u2019s military overthrew the government in 2005 and again in 2008, and a U.S.-trained military officer toppled the democratically elected president of Mali in 2012.<\/p>\n

The region, relatively free<\/a> of transnational terror threats in 2001, is now beset by regular attacks<\/a> from Boko Haram, a once-tiny, nonviolent<\/a>, Islamist sect from Nigeria that has since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and threatens the stability of not only its homeland but also Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. And Boko Haram is just one of 17 militant groups now menacing the region, according<\/a> to the Defense Department\u2019s Africa Center for Strategic Studies.<\/p>\n

\"Airmen<\/a>

Airmen unload a C-130J Super Hercules during a deployment in Agadez, Niger, on April 29, 2016.
Photo: Jeffrey McGovern\/U.S. Air Force<\/p><\/div>\n

Drones have long been integral to U.S. efforts in Niger. In 2012, according to the files obtained by The Intercept, Niger agreed to host U.S. drones in Niamey, the capital, on the condition that operations would eventually be shifted to a more remote military base in Agadez.<\/p>\n

In February 2013, the U.S. began flying Predator drones out of the capital. Later in the spring, an AFRICOM spokesperson revealed that U.S. air operations there were providing \u201csupport for intelligence collection with French forces conducting operations in Mali and with other partners in the region.\u201d The Air Force recently announced plans to upgrade shower and latrine facilities at Niamey \u201cto serve a steady state of 200 to 250 personnel a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. shares that base with France,\u201d said Gettinger. The base in Niamey, he explained, \u201cis strategically important simply because to the north there\u2019s Mali and the threat posed by al Qaeda-linked groups, including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. \u2026 To the south you have Nigeria and Boko Haram, so there\u2019s lots of demand for ISR capabilities.\u201d At Agadez, he noted, the U.S. doesn\u2019t need to share facilities with the French military or commercial aircraft. And it is, he said, \u201cmore strategically located than Niamey.\u201d<\/p>\n

As UCLA\u2019s Moore puts it: \u201cThe recent trajectory of sites and money suggests that Niger is becoming, after Djibouti, the second most important country for U.S. military counterterrorism operations on the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n

_____________________________________<\/p>\n

Nick Turse<\/a> – @nickturse<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theintercept.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the only country in the region willing to allow a U.S. base for MQ-9 Reapers \u2014 a newer, larger, and potentially more lethal model than the venerable Predator drone \u2014 Niger has positioned itself to be the key regional hub for U.S. military operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-militarism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}