Sudanese Air Force

Aircraft

The air force flies a mixture of transport planes, fighter jets and helicopters which are mainly sourced from the Soviet Union/Russia and China. However, not all the aircraft are in a fully functioning state and the availability of spare parts has been limited. In 1991, the two main air bases were at the capital Khartoum and Wadi Sayyidna near Omdurman.^[5]

On 4 April 2001, a Sudanese Antonov An-24 aircraft crashed in Adaril (Adar Yeil, Adar Yale), Sudan. The fifteen dead included a general, seven lieutenant generals, three brigadiers, a colonel, a lieutenant colonel and a corporal.^[6]

In 2009, Sudan made a successful deal to buy two different batches of 12 MiG-29 Russian fighter jets each.^[7] There were 23 MiG-29s in active service as of late 2008.^[8] However, the rebel Justice and Equality Movement claimed to have shot down one MiG-29 with large-caliber machine-gun fire on 10 May 2008, killing the pilot of the plane, a retired Russian Air Force fighter pilot; the Sudanese government denied the allegation.^[9] South Sudan also claimed to have shot down a Sudanese MiG-29 during the 2012 border conflict.^[3]

In mid-2011, members of the UN Panel of Experts on the Sudan documented the following aircraft in Darfur which potentially indicated violations of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1556:

• Letter dated 24 January 2011 from former members of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan established pursuant to Resolution 1591 (2005) and renewed pursuant to Resolution 1945 (2010) addressed to the Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to Resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan, page 30
  • Five Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft (tail numbers 201, 204, 205, 207, 212)
  • Three Mi-17 transport helicopters (tail numbers 525, 540, 543)
  • Nine Mi-24 attack helicopters (tail numbers 928, 937, 938, 939, 942, 943, 947, 948 stationed at El Fasher and Nyala, and an additional Mi-24 which crashed near El Fasher on 18 April 2011.) Satellite imagery also indicates that a total of five other attack helicopters were present at Kutum, N Darfur, in April 2011, and at El Geneima in February 2011, but panel members have not determined whether they were introduced from outside Darfur in addition to those listed above, or moved from within Darfur.

In August 2013, pictures showed Su-24's in Sudanese colors, reporting that the aircraft were among the ex Belarusian Air Force Su-24's retired in 2012.^[10] Various reports have said that the air force uses Iranian drones such as the Ghods Ababil.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Current inventory

It is difficult to establish the current aircraft inventory of the Sudanese Air Force because of the ongoing civil war and because reliable public open sources detailing the Air Force's inventory are hard to find (if they exist at all). This lack of good sources was a problem even before the current civil war (secrecy concerning Air Force matters has been in place in Sudan for a long time) and the civil war has naturally only made it harder to establish a full and true picture of the state of the Air Force (equipment-wise and otherwise). The table below listing manned aircraft of the Sudanese air force is almost totally based on the World Air Forces 2026 publication by FlightGlobal.^[1] There are differing estimates of the state of the Air Force to that of World Air Forces 2026; for example, Sudan War Monitor internet publication, which follows the current civil war, published on 12 January 2026 a writing that says the following of the Sudanese Air Force: "... loss of nearly all the Air Force’s equipment since 2023", "Sudan’s Air Force lost many of its MiG-29 fighter jets on the first day of the war ...", "In the following months, the RSF shot down many of the Air Force’s remaining jets ...", " ... Antonov and Ilyushin cargo planes ... lasted somewhat longer, but sustained losses in 2024-2025, ending a two-year bombing campaign ...", "Since last year, Sudan’s Air Force has lost a substantial proportion of its newly acquired Turkish drone fleet", "... the Ilyushin bombers until they were all shot down".^[15] So the state and inventory of the Sudanese Air Force can be described as unknown and uncertain, and will probably remain so at least until the current civil war ends.

Missiles

Air defense