Ethiopia Takes Delivery of Its First 12 Su-35 Fighters From Russia, Says Four S-400 Batteries Will Follow
Ethiopia has taken delivery of its first 12 Russian Su-35 fighter jets and will later receive four S-400 long-range air defence batteries, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Wednesday 28 October 2026. Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport confirmed the same day that it had handed over the first batch of Su-35s to the Ethiopian Air Force. Neither side has disclosed the value of the deal, when the S-400s will arrive or where the aircraft will be based.
What Abiy announced
In a post on X, Abiy wrote: “In accordance with our prior agreement with the Russian government, we have today taken delivery of the first twelve Su-35 4++ Generation fighter jets.” He added that Ethiopia “will receive four S-400 air defense system batteries,” and thanked President Vladimir Putin for getting the jets delivered a year ahead of the agreed schedule, according to the Ethiopian News Agency.
State broadcaster Fana said Abiy witnessed the official handover. He framed the purchase as a way to “pre-emptively deter aggression” and said it puts Ethiopia at the front of Sub-Saharan African countries operating the type, Reuters reported. The announcement came as Abiy arrived in Moscow for the third Russia–Africa Summit, held on 28 and 29 October.
What Russia has confirmed
Rosoboronexport chief executive Alexander Mikheyev told the Vesti TV channel that “Rosoboronexport has delivered the first batch of Su-35 aircraft to the Ethiopian Air Force,” TASS reported. He did not give a number. Mikheyev also said more than 30% of Rosoboronexport’s order book now comes from African countries. Rostec, which owns the exporter, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
So the delivery itself is confirmed by both governments’ channels. The figure of 12 comes from Abiy. The S-400 part is a stated plan: no contract date, delivery date or price has been published, and Moscow has not commented on it.
Why “first twelve” matters
Abiy’s wording, “the first twelve,” suggests more Su-35s could follow, but he gave no total. The figure is also larger than what had been reported before. In October 2025 a hacker group called Black Mirror published documents attributed to Rostec that pointed to a contract for six Su-35s for Ethiopia. Neither government confirmed that contract at the time, and no Su-35 was verified in the air or on static display at the Ethiopian Air Force’s 90th-anniversary airshow in January 2026. Wednesday’s announcement is the first official confirmation that Ethiopia has the type at all. The gap between the leaked six and the announced twelve has not been explained.
What the Su-35 adds to Ethiopia’s air force
The Su-35 is a single-seat, twin-engine multirole fighter built by Sukhoi, a heavily upgraded member of the Su-27 “Flanker” family with thrust-vectoring engines and an Irbis-E passive electronically scanned array radar. Sukhoi markets it as a “4++ generation” aircraft: more capable than earlier fourth-generation jets, but without the stealth design of fifth-generation fighters such as the Su-57.
That makes it a direct successor to what Ethiopia already flies. The air force’s frontline fighters are still largely Su-27s bought in the mid-1990s after the 1998–2000 border war with Eritrea, plus two refurbished Su-30Ks delivered in January 2024. Shared Flanker lineage should ease pilot conversion and some maintenance, though Ethiopia has not said how far its crews have been trained on the new jets. For the full fleet, see our Ethiopian Air Force aircraft inventory.
Delivery is not the same as operational capability. A new fighter type needs trained pilots and ground crew, weapons stocks, spares and base infrastructure. None of that has been described publicly, and Ethiopia has not shown the aircraft flying in its own markings.
What four S-400 batteries would mean
The S-400 Triumf is Russia’s main long-range surface-to-air missile system, designed to engage aircraft, drones and some ballistic missiles. A battery typically combines search and engagement radars, a command post and several launcher vehicles. Ethiopia’s best-documented modern ground-based air defence today is the much shorter-range Pantsir-S1, bought from Russia in 2018 and delivered by late 2019. If the S-400s arrive, they would be a large jump in reach and as far as public records show, the first S-400s in Sub-Saharan Africa. Until a delivery is shown, they remain a plan.
The security context
The announcement lands during renewed war in Tigray, where a rebel alliance launched an offensive last month, and a sharp break with Eritrea, which Addis Ababa accuses of backing the rebels; Asmara denies this, Reuters noted. Ethiopia has already invoked self-defence against Eritrea in letters to the UN, as we reported earlier this month, and its army has pushed to Zalambessa on the Eritrean border. In the 2020–2022 war, foreign-made drones, especially the Turkish Bayraktar TB2, did much to turn the fighting. Tensions with Sudan and Egypt, including over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, are the other backdrop; see our Egypt and Ethiopia armed forces comparison and Ethiopia military strength 2026.
Russia and Ethiopia signed a set of military cooperation agreements in July 2021 covering army modernisation, technology transfer and training, according to TASS. The Su-35 handover is the most visible result so far.
What to watch
- Whether Ethiopia publishes images of the jets in Ethiopian Air Force markings, and where they are based.
- Whether Addis Ababa or Moscow gives a total Su-35 number beyond the “first twelve”.
- Any contract date, value or delivery timeline for the S-400 batteries.
- Reactions from Eritrea, Egypt and Sudan.
Sources
- Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, post on X, 28 October 2026, as reported by Ethiopian News Agency and Fana Media Corporation
- TASS: Rosoboronexport delivers first batch of Su-35 fighter jets to Ethiopian Air Force
- TASS: Ethiopia expects to receive four S-400 air defense system batteries from Russia
- Reuters, via The Straits Times: Ethiopia says it has taken delivery of 12 Russian Su-35 fighter jets
- DefenceMENA background: Ethiopian Air Force aircraft inventory (2026)
