Sudan Air Force Aircraft 2026: Fleet, Helicopters and Drones, Status by Status

The Sudanese Air Force still lists dozens of Soviet and Chinese jets, about 64 helicopters and a growing number of drones, but nobody outside the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) knows how many of them fly. This page sets out the Sudan Air Force aircraft the open record supports, class by class, with a status label on every line: what is a directory estimate, what was lost in the war, what is only reported, and what is a proposed deal. Drones attributed to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) appear only as attributed reports.

Data as of 27 October 2026. Figures are open-source estimates; see “A note on the numbers”.

How to read the numbers

Two sources supply almost every quantity below. FlightGlobal’s World Air Forces 2026 directory, which is paywalled and which we have seen only through secondary compilations, gives type-by-type counts; Global Firepower’s January 2026 page gives class totals that match the directory’s type counts, so they are one source, not two. Neither is adjusted for wartime losses. The air force is a branch of the SAF, whose army, navy and the wider war are covered in Sudan military strength. Status labels follow the site standard: Operational, Delivered, Estimated, Retired, Reported (unconfirmed), Requested, Ordered.

How many fighter jets does Sudan have?

On paper, about 74: roughly 38 fighters and 36 attack aircraft by the directory’s type counts (Global Firepower totals 37 and 36). The most capable are about 10 MiG-29SE, which Sudan acquired in 2003–04 and which remain in use, according to Military Africa in January 2026. The caveat is large. One MiG-29SE was destroyed in the first weeks of the war and Military Africa reports another downed over Khartoum in May 2023, and a January 2026 Sudan War Monitor analysis said the air force had lost “nearly all” its equipment since 2023, a statement we could not verify and which Military Africa’s same-month assessment does not support. A defensible reading is that Sudan still flies some MiG-29, Su-25, Su-24M and Chinese-built jets, in numbers well below the table.

Reports in 2017 that Sudan had bought the Su-35 were never substantiated: no aircraft was ever delivered or seen in Sudan, and most analysts treat them as false. The same applies to the J-10 for now. The Su-30 and Su-35 are on a reported 2025 shopping list that Military Africa links to Russian interest in a Red Sea naval facility; no contract has been shown.

Trainers and light attack

The Hongdu K-8 Karakorum, made by China and Pakistan, is the SAF’s most numerous light combat aircraft, with about 23 listed by the directory. Ten more were part of the package that Reuters reported in January 2026, and The Defense Post wrote in August 2026 that the package also included spare parts for the existing K-8 fleet. Six FTC-2000 Shanying jet trainers were ordered from Guizhou in 2016; Oryx documented three destroyed and one damaged in the first weeks of the war. Pakistan’s Super Mushshak is named in the same reported package. None of the additions has been confirmed by either government.

Transport aircraft

The transport fleet is small and old. The directory lists about 13 fixed-wing transports: about 5 Antonov An-12, about 2 An-26, about 4 An-30/32 types, 1 Lockheed C-130H and 1 DHC-5D Buffalo. Four An-12 and several An-26/30/32 types were destroyed at Khartoum International Airport in the opening days of the war, according to Oryx, so the real fleet is probably smaller. The Il-76, a heavy freighter, is not in the directory count. An Il-76 operated by the SAF was lost near Babanusa on or around 4 November 2025: the RSF claimed to have shot it down, with debris from a Chinese-made FK-2000 air-defence system reportedly found, while the army’s 22nd Division attributed the loss to a technical failure in the right wing, according to Military Africa.

How many helicopters does Sudan have?

About 64 on paper, 35 of them attack helicopters (Global Firepower, January 2026). Type-level compilations suggest about 35 Mil Mi-24/Mi-35 and about 24 Mi-8/Mi-17/Mi-171, which together account for 59 of the 64. Older directories also list Bo 105 and IAR-330 helicopters, but we could not verify current quantities for either. Oryx’s 2023 catalogue records six Mi-24/35 or Mi-8/17-class helicopters destroyed and two damaged in the first weeks of the war, most of them at one airfield, so the 64 is almost certainly a pre-attrition number.

For how Russian-built helicopters hold up across the continent, see why African armies still operate Russian helicopters.

Drones and loitering munitions

Unmanned aircraft are now the biggest change in the SAF’s air arm, and the least well documented. Al Jazeera’s February 2026 analysis found that both sides had increasingly relied on drones and tracked about 1,000 aerial attacks since April 2023; by May 2026 the UN human rights office said armed drones were the leading cause of civilian deaths in Sudan. The UN Fact-Finding Mission said in a report dated 1 September 2026 that the SAF had significantly expanded its drone capability since late 2023 through foreign-supplied systems, and that its investigation of that external support was still preliminary. The table below keeps three things apart: what has been documented, what is reported, and what is only claimed. Our drone-war analysis and report on disputed air-to-air claims go further.

Supply claims are contested. Al Jazeera, citing Critical Threats and Reuters, reports that the SAF is believed to have drone technology and support from Egypt, Russia, Iran and Türkiye; none of those governments has confirmed it for the types above. For the Turkish systems, as for the Iranian and Pakistani ones, the status is Reported until a government or manufacturer confirms: see which African countries operate the Bayraktar TB2 and the Akıncı.

RSF drones and air defence, as attributed reports

The RSF has no air force, according to a 2024 Amnesty International report cited by Al Jazeera, but it uses drones. The table lists only what named sources attribute to it; the UAE, which several of the sources name as a supplier, says it “is not involved in the civil war in Sudan, nor has it provided arms or any related materiel to any party.”

How the fleet was built

Military Africa’s January 2026 summary lists the legacy fleet as MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighters, Chinese Q-5, J-6 and J-7 aircraft, Su-24 and Su-25 strike aircraft, and MiG-29s acquired in 2003–04, which made Sudan one of few African MiG-29 operators. Six FTC-2000 trainers followed in 2016. A UN Security Council arms embargo covering Darfur has applied since Resolution 1591 of 2005; it was extended in October 2026 for two months to 11 December, with Russia and China blocking a US proposal to widen it to the whole country (details). Since late 2023 the story has shifted from manned jets to drones, with the SAF’s drone capability growing through foreign-supplied systems and the domestic Military Industry Corporation. The wartime constraint is spares, engines and pilots, none of which have a published number, and a currency that has fallen about 14-fold on the parallel market since April 2023 (see Sudan’s defence budget).

What arrived or changed in the last 12 months

Short answers

Does Sudan have the J-10, Su-35 or JF-17?

No confirmed delivery of any of the three. The Su-35 has been rumoured since 2017 without evidence; the Su-30/Su-35 and J-10 appear in 2025 reports of what the SAF wants; the JF-17 was named as a possibility in Reuters’ January 2026 report on the Pakistani package, with no quantity or schedule.

Does Sudan still fly the MiG-29?

Yes, according to Military Africa in January 2026, which describes MiG-29s in use against RSF positions, though the number is unknown, at least one was destroyed in 2023 and another is reported downed in May 2023.

Does Sudan still fly the Il-76?

The directory does not list it. At least one was lost on or about 4 November 2025 (see above); no verified count of surviving Il-76 exists.

How Sudan compares

Sudan’s paper fleet puts it among the continent’s mid-sized air arms; see Africa’s largest air forces ranked for the comparison, noting that it uses a pre-war baseline for Sudan. A regional comparison is in Ethiopia’s Air Force aircraft. For Sudan’s ground forces, ranks and budget see Sudan army ranks. The East Africa desk carries the running news.

A note on the numbers

Official: nothing. Sudan publishes no order of battle, and the UN Fact-Finding Mission’s drone findings are the only primary, authoritative statements about specific types. Estimated: every count in the tables, drawn from the FlightGlobal directory as relayed in secondary compilations and from Global Firepower, whose class totals reproduce the directory rather than checking it; both pre-date or ignore wartime attrition. Contradicted between sources: Sudan War Monitor’s January 2026 statement that the air force lost nearly all of its equipment, against Military Africa’s same-month assessment that it maintains its tempo, and the same Sudan War Monitor article’s report of the loss of an Akıncı over Nyala, which we could not read because it is paywalled and which neither Ankara nor Baykar has commented on. The Pakistani package rests on anonymous sources quoted by Reuters and has no official confirmation; Reuters reportedly noted a brief pause in April 2026 (second-hand). Not verified: serviceability of any type, the number of Il-76, MiG-29 and Mi-24 airframes now flying, the Bo 105 and IAR-330 counts, any drone quantity, and the identity of every supplier. We have not named base locations or described tactics.

Sources

• Global Firepower (unofficial index), 2026 Sudan Military Strength, accessed 27 October 2026
• Oryx, Khartoum Kaputt: Aircraft Losses During The 2023 Sudan Crisis, accessed 27 October 2026
• Military Africa, Sudanese Air Force holds the line against RSF rebels (January 2026), accessed 27 October 2026
• Military Africa, Sudan revives Sukhoi acquisition bid to halt RSF (November 2025), accessed 27 October 2026
• Military Africa, Rebel FK-2000 air defence claims Sudan’s Il-76 transport aircraft (November 2025), accessed 27 October 2026
• The Defense Post, Pakistan to Sign $1.5B Arms Sale With Sudan (12 January 2026), accessed 27 October 2026
• The Defense Post, Sudanese Forces Expand Arsenal With Mohafiz Armored Vehicles From Pakistan (7 August 2026), accessed 27 October 2026
• UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, A/HRC/63/23 (advance version, 1 September 2026), accessed 27 October 2026
• European Union Agency for Asylum, Country of Origin Information: Sudan, Security Situation (October 2026), accessed 27 October 2026
• Al Jazeera, The drones being used in Sudan: 1,000 attacks since April 2023 (3 February 2026), accessed 27 October 2026
• The National, UN report finds Sudanese Armed Forces used foreign-supplied drones in attacks on civilian areas (3 September 2026), accessed 27 October 2026
• DefenceMENA, Sudan war drones: what the evidence shows on SAF and RSF since 2023 (October 2026), citing the Washington Post (7 March 2025) and defenceWeb, accessed 27 October 2026
• DefenceMENA, Sudan Army Mohafiz-V: Pakistani armoured vehicles (25 October 2026), summarising Sudan Tribune and Reuters, accessed 27 October 2026