An Army paratrooper operates a drone during exercise African Lion 2025 in Tunisia, on April 27, 2025. This year’s iteration of the exercise will include a small drone training module supporting the Army’s vision of a network of regional drone training centers in Africa, officials said. (Mariah Gonzalez/U.S. Army)
ROME — The Army is envisioning a chain of regional drone training centers in Africa focused on using the collective expertise of participating countries to usher in a new era of tackling the continent’s thorniest security issues, the service’s highest-ranking officer in Europe and Africa said this week.
That effort will kick off next month in Morocco during the military exercise African Lion, Gen. Christopher Donahue said Monday.
The annual exercise will take place in April and May across Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal and Ghana and include more than 10,000 participants from 20 nations, according to U.S. Africa Command. It also will include a small drone training module for 16 participants, officials said.
The regional centers wouldn’t solely target equipment and field training “but rather what we want is to focus on an approach of how we solve problems,” said Donahue, speaking in Rome to an audience of U.S., African and European military officials.
“This regional training center is about a sustainable, enduring capability that — once we prove its effectiveness — we can take (to) the other parts of Africa,” Donahue said.
Donahue made the comments during the opening of the U.S. Southern European Task Force, Africa’s African Land Forces Summit. SETAF-AF is based at U.S. Army Garrison Italy in Vicenza.
The three-day conference brings together military personnel and officials from the U.S. and dozens of African and European countries to strengthen regional security through partnerships and technology.
This year, the conference included technology experts and companies with the intent of bridging the gap between African militaries and industry in acquiring new and emerging technologies. The effort also was designed to spur collaboration and innovation, officials said.
The Army’s drone training initiative comes as African countries work to acquire and use unmanned aerial vehicles and other emerging technologies to address a host of security issues, including terrorism, illicit drug trafficking, poaching and border protection.
But many African nations lack the deep pockets needed to buy military-grade drones with sophisticated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and other systems.
ISR and unmanned aerial vehicle systems, especially, are very costly, said Senegalese Army Brig. Gen. Simon Ndour. Countries may be able to purchase a few less expensive drones, but their efficiency is limited because they are tactical, he said.
Army paratroopers operate a drone while analyzing footage during exercise African Lion 2025 in Tunisia, on April 27, 2025. This year’s iteration of the exercise will feature a small drone training module tied to the Army’s broader push to establish regional drone training centers across Africa, officials said. (Mariah Gonzalez/U.S. Army)
Costs for military drones able to carry weapons or complete surveillance or other tasks can range from as low as a few thousand to tens of millions of dollars for advanced, sophisticated systems.
Drone makers are working to devise low-cost solutions while still providing deterrence, in part by allowing countries to purchase fewer expensive systems, tech officials at the conference said.
It’s not clear how or when the Army plans to establish the regional training center in Morocco or expand the program to other countries.
But a micro-training event in Morocco during African Lion will offer two drone courses for eight participants each, SETAF-AF said in a statement.
One will focus on integrating drone planning into military operations, and the other will offer hands-on experience in flying four different drone systems. The courses will run over eight and 10 days, respectively, SETAF-AF said.
The classes will train U.S. and partner forces while setting conditions for future training, capability and institutional development along with facilities enhancement within and outside the exercise, Col. Alex Tignor, a spokesman for SETAF-AF, said in a statement on Tuesday.
He added that any future concepts, including regional training approaches and other forms of cooperation, only would be developed in coordination with African partners and through established U.S. processes.
Donahue said an important part of the idea behind the proposed training centers includes African nations working together to identify problems by taking culture, intelligence and environment into account along with other information and experience to devise solutions.
That would require countries to develop trust with each other and share information in tackling an issue “so that we can develop different techniques … to solve that problem,” Donahue said.
That, in turn, would inspire a different approach to training, one that finds countries coaching each other, learning from each other, and sharing information to solve problems, he added.
“And that is how we’ll secure our future together,” Donahue said.
