Niger Air Base 201 (also known in some sources as "Nigerien Air Base 201") is a United States

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

airbase near

Agadez Agadez ( Air Tamajeq: ⴰⴶⴰⴷⴰⵣ, ''Agadaz''), formerly spelled Agadès, is the fifth largest city in Niger, with a population of 110,497 based on the 2012 census. The capital of Agadez Region, it lies in the Sahara desert, and is also ...

, Niger. The base is about 5 km southeast of Agadez. It is owned by the Nigerien military but built and paid for by the United States. It is operated by the U.S. military as a drone base. As of February 2018, the site consists of a runway, still under construction, a hangar, and numerous smaller buildings for personnel to work and live in.

Operations

The U.S. military presence at Base 201 began on April 19, 2016. Once complete, the runway will be big enough to accommodate both

General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the Unit ...

armed drones as well as the much larger

Boeing C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two ...

transport airplanes. Construction was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018. However, delays have pushed the completion estimate to mid-2019. Runway construction is being undertaken by the 31st Expeditionary

Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer (RED HORSE) squadrons are the United States Air Force's heavy-construction units. Their combat engineering capabilities are similar to those of the U.S. Navy Seabees and U.S ...

. In July 2019, the

409th Air Expeditionary Group The 409th Air Expeditionary Group is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to United States Air Forces Europe (USAFE), which may activate or inactivate the group as needed at any time. The group was first activated in June 1943 du ...

and the

411th Civil Affairs Battalion 411th Civil Affairs Battalion (Tactical) is a civil affairs (CA) unit of the United States Army. It is based at Danbury, Connecticut. The unit includes Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Headquarters (HHC) Companies, all located in Danbury. The ba ...

are stationed at the base. ISR flights officially began on November 1, 2019.

Construction

The amount of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

50 million was approved by Congress for the base, but the cost may end up exceeding $100 million. The base was originally planned to be operational by the end of 2018, but delays have caused the completion date of the base to be pushed to mid-2019. The Air Base was described by U.S. officials as the largest construction project led by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. A report by the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

Inspector General criticized the project for skirting congressional oversight, failing to complete an adequate site survey, and not constructing the base to meet safety, security, and other technical requirements, findings that were disputed by the Air Force and

U.S. Africa Command The United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM, U.S. AFRICOM, and AFRICOM), is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense, headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany. It is responsible for U ...

References

External links

Online BBC press article: War in the desert – Why the Sahara is terror's new front line. By Firle Davies & Alastair Leithead. Published 21 June 2018 on BBC.co.uk
*

PBS NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virg ...

published on April 16, 2019 {{Authority control Airports in Niger Military installations of the United States Agadez Region Military of Niger

Operations

Construction

See also

References

External links