The United States has restarted intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) flights over Nigeria’s North-East, with renewed aerial monitoring focused on the Sambisa Forest in Borno State. The development comes just days after reported U.S. airstrikes against ISIS-linked fighters in Sokoto State.
The renewed surveillance activity was revealed on Saturday by Sahel-focused terrorism tracker Brant Philip, who cited flight-tracking data showing a U.S. aircraft operating over Borno. Analysis of the data identified the aircraft as a Gulfstream V, a long-range jet commonly adapted for special ISR missions.
According to Philip, the operation specifically targeted the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the ISIS affiliate that operates primarily in Nigeria’s North-East and across parts of the Lake Chad Basin. He noted that the flights resumed after a brief one-day pause following the Sokoto airstrikes.
Open-source flight records indicate that the current wave of U.S. ISR missions over Nigeria began on November 24. The aircraft involved reportedly departs from Ghana, which serves as a major logistics and staging hub for U.S. military operations in West Africa. Since then, the same aircraft has been observed flying over Nigerian territory almost daily.
The jet has been linked to Tenax Aerospace, a U.S.-based provider of special mission aircraft. Sources familiar with the operations say the surveillance flights are aimed at tracking militant movements, gathering real-time intelligence on insurgent groups, and supporting efforts to locate an American pilot reportedly kidnapped in neighbouring Niger Republic.
This escalation in U.S. aerial activity follows high-level diplomatic engagements between Nigeria and the United States. In recent weeks, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, held talks in Washington with U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth amid growing tensions over President Donald Trump’s warnings of possible military action.
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After the meeting, Hegseth stated that the United States would work “aggressively” alongside Nigeria to curb what he described as the persecution of Christians by jihadist groups. The recent airstrikes in North-West Nigeria, reportedly aimed at ISIS-linked militants, were later described by President Trump as the first step in fulfilling that commitment, with a warning that further strikes could follow.