In 1999, the U.S. signed a ten-year agreement with then Ecuadorean President Jamil Mahuad allowing the U.S. to station up 475 military personnel at Manta, rent-free.

[5] USAF AWACS E-3 and United States Navy P-3 Orion aircraft, supported by about 300 US military personnel, operated from the base to monitor air traffic in the area.

The U.S. aircraft based at Manta fed surveillance information to the Joint Interagency Task Force South in Key West.

[8][11] Admiral James Stavridis, chief of the U.S. Southern Command stated on April 21, 2008, that there were no plans to find a replacement drug-interdiction air base in South America if Ecuador declined to renew the lease of Manta.

Instead, the U.S. military would use existing air bases in El Salvador, Curaçao, and Key West, Florida for drug-surveillance flights.