US Navy Plane Drop Ammo in Borno Amid Rising Insecurity in Nigeria
United States army plane have delivered ammunition to army bases in Borno State and different components of northeastern Nigeria amid renewed safety considerations.
The flights, which arrived between Thursday and Friday, have been a part of a safety assist mission agreed upon throughout latest bilateral engagements between Nigeria and the US.
In response to Punch, Senior officers on the Defence Headquarters confirmed that the plane transported ammunition meant for ongoing counter-insurgency operations.
They defined that the provides have been supplied to strengthen Nigeria’s battle towards armed {groups} working within the area.
One senior officer stated the deliveries adopted safety discussions between each nations.
In response to him, the US is predicted to assist Nigeria with logistics and manpower the place essential.
“Following Nigeria-US bilateral talks on safety, the American authorities is not going to solely deploy troopers but in addition present essential logistics, together with ammunition, to battle the insurgents.”
One other high-ranking officer described the cargo as routine operational assist. He famous that the army frequently requires recent provides after fight missions.
“I do know that lately US plane got here to produce ammunition for our platforms, and that wasn’t the primary time. So, what you’re saying could also be true, although I’ve not been formally briefed.
“We go for operations and use totally different calibres of ammunition, which have to be changed.
“The US and the Nigerian authorities, beneath the coordination of the NSA, are working collectively to finish insecurity within the nation. So, we should always count on extra deployments of plane and troops.”
Experiences indicated that at the least one of many plane landed in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, the place gear was offloaded on the airbase.
A report by The New York Occasions said that three plane have been sighted on the Maiduguri army base, with heavy cargo being unloaded from considered one of them.
The report additionally quoted a US Division of Protection official as saying:
“These preliminary flights are the vanguard of what’s going to be a stream of C-17 transport flights into three essential places throughout Nigeria.”
In the meantime, safety trackers on social media reported {that a} US Air Power transport plane additionally landed at Kaduna Worldwide Airport after departing from Ghana.
One submit urged that the Kaduna army depot may very well be used as a coaching centre for American personnel working with Nigerian forces.
“A US Air Power army transport plane C30J has landed at Kaduna Worldwide Airport after departing from Ghana earlier this (Friday) night. The motion is fuelling hypothesis that US personnel could utilise the Kaduna Depot as a possible coaching hub in collaboration with the Nigerian army. This indicators a possible deepening of US–Nigeria safety engagement amid ongoing regional safety challenges.”
One other tracker reported a big motion of army gear into Maiduguri.
“The US Air Power C-130J-30 cargo plane flew to northeast Nigeria immediately (Friday) from Accra, Ghana, following the identical route as the 2 earlier C-17A, a mass supply of apparatus appears to be ongoing.”
As of the time of submitting this report, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Michael Onoja, had not issued an official assertion on the event.
The brand new plane arrivals come months after US President Donald Trump warned in 2025 that American forces may very well be despatched to Nigeria if assaults on Christians weren’t stopped.
Following Nigeria’s designation as a Nation of Explicit Concern, the US reportedly carried out an airstrike on Islamic State fighters in Sokoto State on Christmas Day.
Safety cooperation between each nations has since elevated.
Earlier reviews indicated that about 200 US army officers could be deployed to Nigeria. The New York Occasions later disclosed that the primary batch of intelligence analysts, advisers, and trainers had already arrived to assist focused counterterrorism operations.
Furthermore, extra plane carrying personnel and gear are anticipated to reach within the coming weeks.