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US-Constructed Air Base in Niger Begins Operations

Carla Babb

   PENTAGON - The new U.S.-constructed air base in Agadez, Niger, is now
   fully operational, carrying out its first unmanned intelligence,
   surveillance and reconnaissance flights this week, U.S. Africa Command
   (AFRICOM) told VOA Friday.

   "We are working with our African and international partners to counter
   security threats in West Africa. The construction of this base
   demonstrates our investment in our African partners and mutual security
   interests in the region," said Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, the
   commander of U.S. Africa Command.
   The U.S. Air Force has said the $110 million airfield is one of the
   harshest locations from which the military operates. The facility,
   dubbed Air Base 201, was finished earlier this year after several
   delays caused in part by the challenges of working in a remote desert.
   "I would say that the construction of Air Base 201 will go down as one
   of the most Herculean efforts in the history of the United States Air
   Force," Brig. Gen. Michael Rawls, who commands the Air Force's 435th
   Air Expeditionary Wing in Africa, said earlier this year.

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