Agadez is the gateway town of Niger’s north, at the edge of the Aïr mountains and on the old caravan routes to Algeria and Libya. When the United States looked for a second drone base in Niger, beyond Niamey, it wanted somewhere central. Military.com reported the US Air Forces in Europe and Africa commander as saying the location was chosen with Niger for its geographic and strategic flexibility; The Intercept noted that the site lies close to the borders with Mali, Algeria, Libya and Chad.

The land was not empty. According to The Intercept, the base was built on ground once used by Tuareg cattle herders, and it reported that many residents of Agadez viewed the project with suspicion. Opposition politicians argued that a foreign base of this kind needed parliamentary approval under articles 66 and 169 of Niger’s constitution. Formally, the base belonged to Niger’s armed forces; in practice it was funded, built and operated by the United States.

The Pentagon’s Inspector General traced the project back to a construction tasking in October 2013. Congress authorised US$50 million in November 2015, and US forces were on site from 19 April 2016, according to Wikipedia. Engineers of the 31st Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron laid an asphalt test strip in 2018 to check materials and equipment before they built the runway, a US Air Forces in Europe and Africa article reported. The Intercept put the eventual cost at US$110 million, with about US$15 million a year to run the base.

The Inspector General’s report of 31 March 2020 was blunt. It found that the cost had been badly underestimated, that runway shoulders had been built without congressional authorisation, that guard towers worth about US$3.7 million raised a possible Antideficiency Act violation, and that incomplete site surveys had led to compaction and drainage problems. The airfield and camp were completed in May 2019, nearly three years late, and did not meet Defense Department, Air Force and Africa Command safety and security standards; temporary waivers were approved in June 2019 so that reconnaissance flights could begin.

Limited flights began in August 2019 and the US formally announced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations from Agadez on 1 November 2019, according to Military.com. The aircraft were MQ-9 Reapers, supported by C-17 transports, and the 409th Air Expeditionary Group ran the airfield. Niger had approved armed US drone flights in November 2017, a month after four American soldiers were killed in the ambush at Tongo Tongo on 4 October 2017.

The base also worked for Niger’s own air force. Military.com reported that it could support Nigerien aircraft, and defenceWeb reported in 2021 that US aid had included a US$7 million hangar at Agadez as part of a programme that delivered three refurbished C-130H Hercules. In October 2021 President Bazoum announced that an air force school would be set up at Agadez, ANP reported. When the Americans left in 2024, the joint US-Niger statement put the force being withdrawn from Niger at nearly 1,000 personnel.

After the coup of 26 July 2023 the new military government, the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), ended the military cooperation agreement with the United States on 16 March 2024. A Joint Disengagement Commission managed the withdrawal. US forces left Air Base 101 at Niamey first, starting on 7 June 2024, and completed the withdrawal from Air Base 201 on 5 August 2024, about six weeks before the agreed deadline of 15 September; Wikipedia dates the formal return of the base to Niger to 6 August.

What Niger flies from Agadez today has not been published, and this page does not guess. The state news agency ANP describes Base 201 as an air base used for air missions and intelligence. On 17 September 2026 Brigadier General Salifou Mainassara, chief of staff of the air force, presided over a change of command there, in front of the governor of Agadez Region and the Sultan of the Aïr: Colonel Alka Mahaman Sani handed over to Colonel Ali Boubacar.