French sources on the 27th said the US has stepped up military activity at Ecuador’s Taura air base over recent months, citing counter‑narcotics operations. From June to mid‑October about 20 US military flights operated to and from Taura, including C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster transports, V-22 Osprey tiltrotors and Black Hawk helicopters. Satellite imagery shows recent large‑scale construction: several hectares of vegetation cleared, new operational areas around the airfield, dozens of ra

French sources on the 27th said the US has stepped up military activity at Ecuador’s Taura air base over recent months, citing counter‑narcotics operations. From June to mid‑October about 20 US military flights operated to and from Taura, including C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster transports, V-22 Osprey tiltrotors and Black Hawk helicopters. Satellite imagery shows recent large‑scale construction: several hectares of vegetation cleared, new operational areas around the airfield, dozens of rapidly erected military tents and a roughly 40m × 20m structure suspected to be an aircraft maintenance hangar.