The United States has resumed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) flights over Nigeria’s North-East, focusing on militant activity within the Sambisa Forest, days after conducting airstrikes against ISIS-linked fighters in Sokoto State.
A Sahel-focused terrorism tracker, Brant Philip, disclosed the development on Saturday, citing flight-tracking data that showed a US aircraft operating over Borno State. According to the data, the aircraft involved is a Gulfstream V, a long-range jet commonly modified for intelligence-gathering missions.
Philip noted that the ISR operation, which resumed after a one-day pause following Thursday night’s airstrikes in Sokoto, is specifically targeting the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the ISIS affiliate active across Nigeria’s North-East and the Lake Chad Basin.
Open-source analysts reviewing flight-tracking information revealed that the surveillance missions began on November 24, with the aircraft reportedly taking off from Ghana, which serves as a logistics hub for US military operations in West Africa. Since then, the same aircraft—linked to Tenax Aerospace, a US-based special mission aircraft provider—has reportedly flown over Nigeria almost daily.
Sources familiar with the operation said the surveillance flights serve multiple purposes, including tracking an American pilot kidnapped in neighbouring Niger Republic and gathering intelligence on militant groups operating within Nigeria.
The renewed US engagement comes amid heightened diplomatic and security coordination between Abuja and Washington. This followed a recent meeting between Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington.
After the meeting, Hegseth stated that the US Department of Defence would work “aggressively” with Nigeria to end what he described as the persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists.
Thursday night’s airstrikes in North-West Nigeria, reportedly targeting ISIS-linked militants, were described by US President Donald Trump as the “first fulfillment” of that commitment. Trump further warned that additional strikes would follow.
