On 27 August 2026, Kenyan and US forces held their first combined, installation-wide base defence exercise (BDEX) at Manda Bay military facility in Kenya. The drill covered the whole coastal facility and drew in personnel from every branch of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF). The U.S. military described it as the first complete cross-functional integration of combined forces at the site. Manda Bay sits on the Kenyan coast near the Somali border, and it supports counter-terrorism operations across East Africa.
A base defence exercise (BDEX) checks how a facility detects, assesses, and responds to an attack. Commanders use it to find gaps before an enemy does. Planners ran several scenarios. Teams practiced emergency response and recovery, drills for suspicious people and activity, and mortar counterfire. Counterfire means locating the point where enemy mortar rounds are fired from and responding quickly. Photos released with the story show KDF personnel escorting a simulated suspect to a holding area and giving simulated medical aid to a US airman. A US explosive ordnance disposal team leader, Master Sgt. Brian Jones, operated a bomb-disposal robot.
The two forces use different standard operating procedures, the written routines that govern who does what during an incident. US Army Sgt. 1st Class Christian Wheeler, who handles security force operations for Task Force Seminole, said the drill let soldiers and airmen work with partners they had never trained alongside. “We both want the same thing: the protection of this area, of Kenya, and to defeat the enemy”, he said.
Lt. Col. Sandy Van den Mooter, commander of the 475th Air Expeditionary Base Squadron, said the partnership shows up daily in coordination meetings and knowledge exchanges. He said the BDEX is a step toward more complex combined training. His squadron supports KDF efforts against al-Shabaab and other extremist groups.
Manda Bay sits on Kenya’s northern coast near the Somali border. The US military uses it to support counter-terrorism operations across East Africa, and AFRICOM describes the exercise as part of keeping that reach intact. Al-Shabaab attacked the airfield in January 2020, killing 3 Americans and destroying aircraft. In May 2024, President William Ruto signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) in Washington to expand the Manda Bay airfield.
The exercise also fits a longer pattern of US-Kenyan military ties. In September 2023, the two governments signed a 5-year defence cooperation agreement. Washington has supplied Kenya with six MD 530F light attack helicopters, delivered in 2020, along with 12 Bastion armoured personnel carriers in 2018 and Metal Shark patrol boats in 2017. In 2024, it sent more MaxxPro mine-resistant vehicles for Kenyan troops deployed in Haiti.
In March 2026, the two countries opened a marine range and close-quarters battle complex at Kenya Navy Base Mtongwe in Mombasa County. AFRICOM’s Justified Accord 2026 exercise, which ran from February 23 through March 13, 2026, also ran partly in Kenya. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, who took command of AFRICOM in August 2025, made Kenya his first stop on the continent, visiting Nairobi in September of that year. The exercise also gives Kenyan and U.S. planners a list of coordination gaps to fix, which is the point of a first drill.