Sudan’s Army Says It Downed an FH-95 Drone Near Wad Banda; AKINCI Air-to-Air Kill Claim Unconfirmed

Sudan’s army said its air defences shot down a Chinese-designed FH-95 drone on the evening of Monday, 2 November 2026, south of Wad Banda in West Kordofan. Around the same time, Clash Report published what it called exclusive footage and said a Sudanese Bayraktar AKINCI had shot down “yet another” CH-95 operated by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Turkish defence accounts quickly called it the tenth such kill. The shoot-down itself is officially claimed. The AKINCI attribution and the “10” tally are not.

What the army said

A press statement from the army’s General Command, signed by the official spokesperson and posted on the Sudanese Armed Forces’ X accounts (@SudaneseAF and @GHQSudan), says: “Our air defences were able this evening to shoot down a hostile drone of the FH-95 type south of the Wad Banda area in West Kordofan State.” Sudan Nabaa, Asharq News and Al-Hadath carried the same wording.

The statement does not name the AKINCI, any air-to-air missile, or the side that operated the drone. In earlier statements, the army has used the same “air defences” wording for losses that open-source accounts later credited to AKINCIs. One example is the 5 October FH-95 loss near Al-Khuway, also in West Kordofan.

What the AKINCI claim rests on

The AKINCI attribution comes from Clash Report. It posted a 22-second clip about 18 minutes before the army statement appeared on X. The clip looks like footage from an airborne targeting sensor. It shows crosshairs tracking an aircraft in flight, a close-up of a drone airframe, and a burning impact site on open ground. Turkish outlets including Defence Turk and Avionot republished it, crediting Clash Report.

Some pro-army Sudanese accounts go further. They say the drone was ambushed west of El Obeid while heading for the city, and that an AKINCI brought it down with an air-to-air missile. Others name the EREN munition. DefenceMENA could not verify any of the following:

• which aircraft recorded the footage;
• whether it was filmed on 2 November;
• which munition was used;
• whether “west of El Obeid” (North Kordofan) and “south of Wad Banda” (West Kordofan) describe the same engagement.

Neither Baykar nor Roketsan has commented. The RSF has not responded publicly.

Is it really the tenth AKINCI kill?

No official figure exists. The “10” in the viral posts is a media count, and the counts do not agree:

• Avionot says the tally has “reached 10”.
• Defence Turk says it is “estimated to have exceeded nine”.
• Envanter Medya, tracking open-source reports, counted a two-kill day in late September as the AKINCI’s eighth air-to-air success since June.
• SavunmaSanayiST wrote on 27 September that the number had already passed ten.

Some entries in these counts are video-only, and some overlap with army announcements that credit air defences. The Sudanese army and Baykar have never published a confirmed AKINCI kill total.

The army’s own announcements are a separate count. They cover FH-95/CH-95 losses from any cause. Anadolu Agency counted six army-announced FH-95 shoot-downs in Kordofan between early September and 5 October. Sudan Nabaa reported on 20 October that the army had downed eight FH-95s in two months. A Sudanese air-defence source told Al-Zawiya on 28 October that more than 27 “strategic” drones of several types had been downed since the RSF first acquired them. None of these figures breaks down how many fell to AKINCIs.

DefenceMENA analysis: why Kordofan keeps producing these claims

Wad Banda lies in the Dar Hamar area of West Kordofan, west of the army-held hub of El Obeid. Local emergency rooms there have reported large drone formations passing overhead and heading east. On one occasion, the Dar Hamar emergency room counted 18 drones, at least one of them a “strategic” type. A medium-altitude, long-endurance FH-95 flying that corridor gives the RSF reconnaissance and electronic-warfare cover for strikes deeper into army-held territory. This month that has included the drone campaign against power stations.

For the army, a heavy UCAV on patrol is a practical answer. Fighter cover is thin and ground-based air defence is stretched across that much territory. The AKINCI can loiter at altitude and has been tested by Baykar with Roketsan’s EREN and SUNGUR air-to-air munitions. However, a counter-drone patrol does not prove a confirmed scoreboard. The strongest evidence remains the army’s dated statements and verified wreckage. UN investigators have documented FH-95/CH-95 debris at El Obeid, El Fasher and Nyala. For the wider picture, see our Sudan war drones file and which African countries operate the AKINCI.

Supply claims are disputed. Amnesty International and Sudanese officials say the RSF’s Chinese-made drones came via the United Arab Emirates, which denies arming the RSF. Khartoum separately accuses Ethiopia of hosting drone launches.

What is verified and what is not

• Verified (official claim): The SAF General Command says its air defences downed an FH-95 south of Wad Banda, West Kordofan, on the evening of 2 November 2026.
• Unverified: That an AKINCI made the kill, the munition used, the exact location, and whether the Clash Report clip shows this engagement.
• Unverified / disputed: The “10 kills” tally. Media counts vary, and no official total exists.
• Disputed: That the UAE supplied the RSF’s drones. Amnesty and the Sudanese authorities allege it; the UAE denies it.

For earlier claims and the CH-95/FH-95 naming question, see Sudan AKINCI vs CH-95: What Is Confirmed on the Latest Shoot-Down Claims. For force context, see Sudan Military Strength 2026.

Sources

• Sudanese Armed Forces General Command, press statement, 2 November 2026, posted on @SudaneseAF and @GHQSudan (Arabic)
• Sudan Nabaa, spokesperson statement, 2 November 2026; Asharq News Sudan, report, 2 November 2026
• Clash Report, AKINCI / CH-95 video, 2 November 2026
• Defence Turk, post, and Avionot, post, 2 November 2026
• Anadolu Agency, “Sudanese army says it downed 6th FH-95 drone in Kordofan in less than month”, 5 October 2026
• Sudan Nabaa, “Drone Graveyard”: eight FH-95 drones in two months, 20 October 2026
• Al-Zawiya via Sudan Independent, air-defence source on 27+ drones (Arabic), 28 October 2026
• Sudan Alaan, Dar Hamar emergency room warning on drones over Wad Banda (Arabic)
• Envanter Medya, “AKINCI Sudan’da Bir Günde 2 Çin İHA’sını Düşürdü”; SavunmaSanayiST, 27 September 2026 report
• This report was prompted by a post from @avionot on X.

Featured image: Bayraktar AKINCI on display at Teknofest 2019, Istanbul. Photo: CeeGee / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped. It is a file photo and does not show the 2 November engagement.