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At least three United States military aircraft landed in Nigeria between Thursday and Friday, delivering ammunition and equipment to support the country’s fight against insurgency, according to senior defence officials.
The aircraft reportedly landed at military bases in Borno and other northeastern states.
Senior officers at the Defence Headquarters, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the planes carried ammunition provided by the US government as part of ongoing security cooperation.
“Following Nigeria-US bilateral talks on security, the American government will not only deploy soldiers but also provide necessary logistics, including ammunition, to fight the insurgents,” one of the officers said.
Another senior officer said the delivery was routine operational logistics, noting that ammunition used in military operations requires replenishment.
“I know that recently, US aircraft came to supply ammunition for our platforms, and that wasn’t the first time. So, what you are saying may be true, though I have not been officially briefed,” he stated.
“We go for operations and use different calibres of ammunition, which need to be replaced.
“The US and the Nigerian government, under the coordination of the NSA, are working together to end insecurity in the country. So, we should expect more deployments of aircraft and troops.”
The New York Times reported on Saturday that US military aircraft landed in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, on Thursday night.
By Friday evening, three planes were visible at the base, with equipment being offloaded from one of them, the paper reported.
A US Department of Defence official told the newspaper that “These initial flights are the vanguard of what will be a stream of C-17 transport flights into three main locations across Nigeria.”
A C-130J-30 cargo plane that reportedly flew from Accra, Ghana, to northeast Nigeria was among the other US aircraft activity reported in posts on X by accounts @mobilisingniger, which track military movements.
“A US Air Force military transport aircraft C30J has landed at Kaduna International Airport after departing from Ghana earlier this (Friday) evening,” @mobilisingniger wrote.
“The movement is fuelling speculation that US personnel may utilise the Kaduna Depot as a potential training hub in collaboration with the Nigerian military. This signals a potential deepening of US–Nigeria security engagement amid ongoing regional security challenges,”
The Maiduguri Airbase in Borno State had received a “massive delivery of equipment”, according to another user, Brant Philip, who identified himself as a tracker on X.
“The US Air Force C-130J-30 cargo aircraft flew to northeast Nigeria today (Friday) from Accra, Ghana, following the same route as the two previous C-17A, a mass delivery of equipment seems to be ongoing,” he wrote.
The first wave of up to 200 American intelligence analysts, advisers, and trainers had arrived to support Nigeria’s armed forces in counterterrorism operations, according to a previous New York Times report.
More aircraft are anticipated in the upcoming weeks to transport personnel and equipment.
