The U.S. will base the Reapers — to be used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance — at Seychelles’ Mahé regional airport, Vince Crawley, AFRICOM spokesman, said. The Navy has been using ship-based UAVs in the region for some time, but using land-based drones for counterpiracy work is new, he said. Piracy is a major problem for the Seychelles because it is dependent on shipping, he added. The mission should last several months, with a Reaper airborne at all times, Crawley said. Details on exactly how long the UAVs would be in the Seychelles are still being worked out, he said. The UAVs would not be armed.
According to San Diego-based General Atomics, which manufactures the Reaper, the UAV can stay in the air for 30 hours and fly at speeds up to 275 mph. The decision to base the Reapers in the Seychelles — about 1,000 miles off the east coast of Africa — comes at a time of year when the weather in the area clears up and pirates based out of Somalia and the region take to the seas. “Traditionally what we are seeing this time of year, the monsoon season will end,” Lt. Nathan Christiansen, spokesman for the Navy’s 5th Fleet, said. “Last August, right about this time, we saw 12 attacks in one day.” In addition to Reapers, the Navy has experimented with operating P-3 Orion patrol aircraft at the same Seychelles airport. A P-3 crew with Squadron VP-10 operating out of Djibouti stopped off at the Seychelles overnight from Aug. 12 to Aug. 13 to test the idea.
