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Pentagon closing Africa UAS base

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MQ-9 Reapers and MQ-1 Predator aircraft assigned to the 451st Air Expeditionary Group sit on static display at Kandahar Air Field, May 3, 2015. An MQ-9, like the ones shown, suffered damage during a non-combat related hard landing, but Airmen from the 451st AEG safety office and 451st Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron worked together to get the aircraft back into the line to support the air tasking order after only a week. (U.S. Air Force photo by Maj. Tony Wickman/Released)

The Pentagon is closing a UAS drone base in Ethiopia and moving the unmanned systemsUAVs to other bases, according to the Washington Post.

MQ-9 Reapers flying out of the airfield at the southern Ethiopian city of Arba Minch have been flying surveillance missions since 2011 on the al-Shabab militant group in neighboring Somalia.

The Pentagon did not give specific reasons for the closure. However, the Washington Post noted that “the shutdown was unexpected. Just three months earlier, the U.S. Air Force signed a $6.7 million, three-year contract with an Ethio­pian tourist lodge to provide housing and office space for about 130 personnel who ran the drone operations, documents show.”

Redeploying the Reapers comes amid shortages of UAS and pilots as the U.S. military strains to keep up with worldwide demand for surveillance missions.

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Michael Peck is a correspondent for Defense News and a columnist for the Center for European Policy Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Find him at theuncommondefense.com. His email is mikedefense1@gmail.com.