According to flight monitoring data and US officials quoted by Reuters, the United States has been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over significant portions of Nigeria since late November, indicating increased security collaboration between both nations.
The goal of the surveillance missions could not be independently verified, according to the exclusive report that was released on Monday.
According to Reuters, the planes came after Donald Trump threatened to use force in Nigeria in November due to what he claimed was the government’s inability to stop violence against Christian communities.
Additionally, the monitoring operations take place months after a US pilot employed by a missionary organization was abducted in neighboring Niger.
The contractor-operated aircraft normally took off from Ghana, flew over Nigeria, and returned to Accra, according to flight tracking data for December.
According to its website, Tenax Aerospace, a Mississippi-based company that supplies special mission planes and collaborates closely with the US military, was identified as the operator based on the data. Requests for comment were not answered by the company.
According to Liam Karr, the Africa team lead at the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project, who examined the flight data, the operation seemed to be operating out of Accra, which he referred to as “a known hub for the U.S. military’s logistics network in Africa.”
The flights, according to Karr, indicated that Washington was reestablishing its intelligence capabilities in the area following Niger’s request last year to withdraw US forces from a significant desert air base and turn to Russia for security support.
“We’ve seen a resumption of intelligence and surveillance flights in Nigeria in recent weeks,” he said to Reuters.
The airplane was one of several assets that the Trump administration transferred to Ghana in November, according to a former US official.
The official stated that the missions included following the kidnapped US pilot and obtaining intelligence on extremist groups operating in Nigeria, including Boko Haram and its splinter faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province, though it was unclear how many aircraft remained there.
A contemporary US official acknowledged that the plane had been over Nigeria, but he refused to give specifics due to diplomatic concerns.
Washington is still working with Nigeria to “address religious violence, anti-Christian attacks, and the destabilizing spread of terrorism,” according to a second administration official.
The Pentagon declined to comment on intelligence operations but said in a statement that the US government had “productive meetings” with Nigeria in response to Trump’s remarks about the nation.
Requests for reaction from Ghana’s deputy defense minister and Nigeria’s military spokeswoman were not answered.
Nigeria has stated time and time again that armed organizations target both Muslims and Christians, claiming that US allegations of Christian persecution ignore attempts to defend religious freedom and oversimplify a complicated security situation.
During a meeting between US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Nuhu Ribadu on November 20, the US decided to use air assets for intelligence collection, a Nigerian security source told Reuters.
A request for comment from a Nigerian military official was not answered.
On November 7, flight monitoring data revealed the Tenax Aerospace aircraft at Florida’s MacDill Air Force Base. The United States Special Operations Command’s headquarters are located in MacDill.
Days after the high-level security meeting, on November 24, the aircraft took off for Ghana. Since then, it has flown over Nigeria nearly every day.
The information indicates that the aircraft is a Gulfstream V, a long-range commercial jet that is frequently outfitted for espionage, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.
