The U.S. has a growing drone base in Niger—and it’s the centerpiece of American and French missions to spy on rebels and terrorists in West Africa.

Now there’s new satellite imagery of the base providing a close-up look.

In an image dated October 2013—captured by satellite imaging firm DigitalGlobe and spotted by the intelligence blog Open Source IMINT—two clamshell-shape drone hangars are seen along with two groups of communications arrays. See this link for a high-resolution pic.

The base is split into two sides. The French side, on left, is digitally altered to conceal several buildings. Several ancillary buildings did not appear in earlier satellite images of the base.

It’s worth pointing out that France uses twin satellite communications arrays for its Harfang drones. This is because the Harfang—jointly produced by France and Israel—needs one data link for controlling the drone and another for receiving video.

“Additional support areas for troops and aircraft have been observed around the airfield and new leveling activity near the drone apron was noted at the time of capture,” Open Source IMINT commented.

The base is located next to the Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey, Niger’s capital. It isn’t a secret, but both Washington and Paris are tight-lipped about its operations.