The U.S. military is looking to expand its unmanned aircraft operations to more bases in Africa so its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) drones can spend more time monitoring potential targets and less time in transit on the vast continent, according to the head of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).
“Because of the size of Africa, because of the time and space and the distances, when it comes to special crisis-response-type activities, we need access in various places on the continent,” Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser told reporters at the Pentagon March 24. AFRICOM aims to “maximize the ISR assets that we have so we have more time over the target and less time flying back and forth to where they originated from, so we get the most bang for our buck.”
For instance, AFRICOM is working with authorities in Agadez, Niger, “to provide an area and a location where we can operate from,” Waldhauser said.
Niger is part of the Lake Chad Basin region, where Boko Haram and other terrorist groups are active. AFRICOM already flies ISR UAVs out of Tunisia, which neighbors Libya, another terrorism hotbed.
AFRICOM plans to convene a meeting of African defense chiefs next month to discuss the ongoing fight against terrorism. More than 50 chiefs have been invited to the summit, which will take place April 18 to 20 in Stuttgart, Germany.
“We’re very interested in listening to our African partners what some of their concerns are [and] what they would like from AFRICOM to see more of or less of,” Waldhauser said. The summit will “give them an opportunity to come together and share their thoughts and ideas.”
The general said AFRICOM continues to work with its African partners to ensure they get the equipment they need. While the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) ultimately oversees arms transfers, AFRICOM helps the DSCA determine whether an individual country has the ability to use and maintain the gear it requests.
“We [have] to find a way to give them what they need, even though their ability to pay sometimes is difficult,” he asserted.