Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force
The Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force traces its line to the Uganda Army Air Force that Israel helped found at Entebbe in 1964, which lost 11 MiGs on the ground to the Israeli raid of July 1976 and was wiped out in the 1978–79 war with Tanzania; rebuilt from almost nothing after 1986, it now flies Su-30MK2 fighters, Mi-24 and Mi-28 attack helicopters and L-39 trainers, and has used them over the Congo, Somalia and South Sudan.
The Uganda air force story: Israeli beginnings, the Entebbe raid, defeat by Tanzania and Sukhois over the Congo
1964–1971: an air force built with Israeli help
Uganda became independent in 1962 with an army but no air arm. According to the Wikipedia history of the Uganda Army, the Uganda Army Air Force was established in 1964 at Entebbe, after cooperation with Israel was stepped up in late July 1964 to create armoured forces and an air force. Israelis supplied and trained much of the army and upgraded Entebbe airport, and an Israeli company later built the air base at Nakasongola. As Uganda’s alignment shifted, aircraft and training also came from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Libya; the MiG-17s were ex-Czech. The arrangement ended abruptly: Idi Amin, who had taken power in 1971 and visited Israel that year, expelled all 470 Israelis by the end of March 1972. The detail of the first Israeli-supplied types and their numbers could not be confirmed in the sources reached and is left out here.
1971–1976: Amin’s air force and the first raids on Tanzania
Under Amin the air force grew in size but not in quality. Wikipedia’s operator list records up to 18 MiG-21MF fighters and three two-seat MiG-21Us delivered in the early 1970s, alongside MiG-17s and MiG-15UTI trainers. Its account of the service describes corruption, infighting and falling foreign aid, and a quick succession of commanders: Wilson Toko, who died in 1973, Smuts Guweddeko, Zeddy Maruru, and from 1975 Amin himself. The first combat came in September 1972, when Ugandan exiles invaded from Tanzania. After the invasion failed, the Uganda Army Air Force bombed the Tanzanian lakeside towns of Mwanza and Bukoba from 18 to 20 September; Wikipedia puts the Tanzanian civilian dead at between 9 and 20. Libya flew in 399 soldiers on five C-130s, a first sign of the alliance that would matter in 1979.
4 July 1976: the night at Entebbe
On 27 June 1976 an Air France airliner was hijacked and flown to Entebbe, where Amin’s government let the hijackers hold the hostages in the old terminal. On the night of 3–4 July Israeli transport aircraft landed a commando force that freed most of them. To stop any pursuit, the raiders destroyed the Ugandan fighters parked on the airfield: Britannica and Wikipedia both give 11 Soviet-supplied MiGs, MiG-17s and MiG-21s, and Wikipedia’s MiG-21 list says seven of them were MiG-21s. Other accounts range up to 30 aircraft. Wikipedia counts 45 Ugandan soldiers killed; Uganda’s own figures were not found. The aftermath was brutal on the ground: a hostage left in a Kampala hospital, Dora Bloch, was murdered, and according to Wikipedia 245 Kenyans in Uganda were killed in reprisal for Kenya’s help to Israel. The air force was rebuilt with Libyan and Soviet support.
1978–1986: wiped out by Tanzania, then no air force at all
By late 1978, according to the account summarised by Wikipedia, the air force had several dozen MiG-21MFs, MiG-21UMs, MiG-17s and MiG-15UTIs, many of them not combat-ready. When Uganda invaded the Kagera salient in October 1978, MiGs bombed Bukoba on 18 October with little effect, and later attempts to knock out Tanzania’s BM-21 rocket launchers failed against effective anti-aircraft fire. Wikipedia says losses in February 1979 effectively eliminated the air force as a fighting force. When Tanzanian troops took Entebbe on 7 April 1979, a dozen MiGs were disabled on the runway and either nine MiG-21s, or seven MiG-21s and two or three MiG-17s, were seized; between 200 and 365 air force personnel surrendered. Amin’s fall left an air arm that existed only on paper; the successor army ran a few helicopters during the bush war, and by 1994 the air force had about 100 people.
1986–2012: MiG-21s from Poland, helicopters against the LRA, Sukhois from Russia
The National Resistance Army that took power in 1986 had never had an air wing, as Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba recalled in December 2025. Rebuilding was slow. In 1998 Uganda bought six MiG-21bis and a MiG-21UM from Poland, which Israel Aerospace Industries upgraded from 1999; three were lost in crashes in 2003, 2006 and 2008. Attack helicopters mattered more: Lt Gen Charles Okidi said in 2023 that they "changed the tides of war" against the Lord’s Resistance Army, and helicopters led Operation Lightning Thunder against Joseph Kony in December 2008. The Defence Forces Act of 2005 gave the air force its present legal form. Its boldest purchase came next: six Su-30MK2s, ordered in 2010 for US$635 million according to SIPRI data quoted by Wikipedia and delivered from 2011, with L-39 jet trainers from Bulgaria and a flying school at Gulu from 2011.
2021–2026: strikes in the Congo, losses in Somalia and a new generation of aircraft
Since 30 November 2021 the air force has flown in Operation Shujaa, the joint campaign with the Congolese army against the Allied Democratic Forces, opening it with air strikes on ADF camps. President Museveni reported in October 2023 that "fighter-bombers" had hit targets up to 200 km inside the Congo; Ugandan media say the Su-30s flew such strikes. Russia delivered Mi-28NE attack helicopters from June 2022, and a Russian joint venture began overhauling Mi-24s at Nakasongola. The cost has been visible: two pilots died in a helicopter crash at Ntoroko on 2 January 2024, and a Mi-24 crashed at Mogadishu on 2 July 2025, killing five. In March 2025 the UPDF deployed to South Sudan, where air strikes have been attributed to Ugandan forces as well as to the South Sudanese government. The MiG-21s were retired in 2023–24, a Let 410 transport fleet arrived in July 2026, and the L-39 Skyfox has been demonstrated. No official fleet count is published.
The Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force in numbers
Service
- Official name
- Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces – Air Force (UPDF-AF)The spelling on the UPDF’s own site, with the apostrophe after "Peoples". English Wikipedia titles its article "Uganda Air Force". No official Swahili name was found
- Founded
- 1964As the Uganda Army Air Force, at Entebbe, with Israeli help. An exact founding date was not found. The present service was established in law by the Defence Forces Act, 2005
- Part of
- Uganda Peoples’ Defence ForcesOne of the UPDF’s services. The Chief of Defence Forces is Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba; the Commander-in-Chief is President Yoweri Museveni
- Headquarters
- EntebbeAir Force Headquarters is at Entebbe, which uses the old Entebbe airport. Moving it to Nakasongola has been planned for years but was reported incomplete in 2024
- Commander
- Lt Gen Charles OkidiCommander Air Force since November 2022; previously Chief of Staff Air Force from December 2019. Deputy: Maj Gen David Biheimaiso Isimbwa
- Chief of Staff
- Brig Gen James R. ItungoAs listed on the UPDF Air Force page in 2026
Strength
- Personnel
- About 1,200 (estimate)IISS-based figure quoted by defenceWeb and Wikipedia; the UPDF does not publish an air force headcount. Wikipedia says the air force had about 100 people in 1994
- Combat aircraft
-
- Sukhoi Su-30MK2 — 5–6
Six were ordered and delivered; defenceWeb counted five in 2019, Wikipedia six in 2024. The MiG-21s were retired between late 2023 and late 2024. IISS-based lists also showed five MiG-23BNs whose status is unknown
- Attack helicopters
-
- Mil Mi-24 / Mi-35 — about 5–6 (estimates range to 11)
- Mil Mi-28NE — 3–4
One Mi-24 was lost at Mogadishu on 2 July 2025. Mi-28 figures: three seen in June 2022, four in service with two on order according to Wikipedia
- Transport helicopters
-
- Mil Mi-17 / Mi-8 — 4–10
- Bell 206 / AB 206 — 3–5
- Bell UH-1H / 205 — 5
- Bell 212 — 2 (2019)
Wikipedia and the 2019 IISS-based defenceWeb list differ; the higher figures are Wikipedia’s
- Trainers
-
- Aero L-39ZA/ZO — 3–12
- Cessna 172 — number not published
defenceWeb’s 2019 list gives 3 L-39ZA, Wikipedia’s UPDF article 8 and its air force article 12; at least six were flown at Gulu in November 2019
- Transport aircraft
-
- Let 410 — commissioned July 2026, number not stated
- Cessna 208 Caravan — 2
- Beechcraft King Air 350 — 1
Let 410 per the UPDF; the others per Wikipedia
- Defence budget
- About US$1.1 billion (2024)Whole UPDF, about 1.8 per cent of GDP according to Wikipedia; Military Africa gives about US$1.066 billion for 2021. No separate air force budget is published
Infrastructure
- Air bases
-
- Entebbe — Air Force Headquarters and main operating base
- Nakasongola — Air Force College and helicopter MRO plant
- Gulu — jet and pilot training
- Soroti — Air Force wing, Mi-28NE training
Compiled from UPDF news and defenceWeb; no official list of air bases is published
- Nakasongola runway
- 3,000–3,600 mWikipedia gives a 3,000 m runway (02/20); The Observer reported 3.6 km in 2024. Built by an Israeli company in the 1970s
- Helicopter overhaul
- Proheli plant, NakasongolaCommissioned on 23 January 2022; the first overhauled Mi-24 was handed over on 18 April 2023. A joint venture of Uganda’s National Enterprise Corporation and a Russian partner
- Training
- Uganda Air Force College, NakasongolaGraduated pilots, aviation security, Raven drone and ground-based air defence personnel on 19 September 2026. Flying training at Gulu since 2011
- Regional standby force
- Air rescue pledged to the Eastern Africa Standby ForceAnnounced in August 2026; aircraft and numbers not stated
- Fighter support
- HAL (India) for the Su-30Memorandum of understanding signed in Kampala in March 2022 for maintenance and technical support
How the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force is organised
One of the services of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces, commanded from Entebbe by Lt Gen Charles Okidi since November 2022, with an Air Force College at Nakasongola, jet training at Gulu and a helicopter wing at Soroti. The Su-30MK2, five or six of the six delivered by 2012, has been Uganda’s only fighter since the MiG-21s were retired in 2023–24, beside Mi-24/35 and Mi-28NE attack helicopters. The UPDF does not publish squadron designations or which aircraft fly from which base.
Air Force Headquarters
One of the services of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces, with its headquarters on the old airport side of Entebbe International Airport. Lt Gen Charles Okidi, a long-serving presidential pilot, has been Commander Air Force since November 2022; the UPDF lists Maj Gen David Biheimaiso Isimbwa as his deputy and Brig Gen James R. Itungo as Chief of Staff. A move of the headquarters to Nakasongola has long been planned, but The Observer reported in January 2024 that it had not happened.
Su-30MK2 fighters
Six Su-30MK2s were ordered in 2010 for US$635 million, according to SIPRI data quoted by Wikipedia, and delivered by 2012; five or six are reported in service. They have been Uganda’s only fighters since the MiG-21s were retired between late 2023 and late 2024. The unit that flies them and its base are not published; Ugandan media report strikes on ADF positions in the Congo.
Soroti Air Force Wing
The helicopter wing at Soroti, where 12 pilots and 52 engineers passed out from an eight-month Mi-28NE course on 22 March 2023 under Lt Col Collins Nkwasibwe; the UPDF said the wing would be elevated to manage an eastern-sector aviation deployment centre. The first three Mi-28NEs were seen at Entebbe in June 2022. Mi-24/35s, about five or six by Wikipedia’s count, are not tied to a base in the sources.
UPDF helicopter detachment, Somalia
Mi-24s supporting the Ugandan contingent of the African Union mission, known from the UPDF’s statement on the loss of Mi-24 AUO-015 at Mogadishu on 2 July 2025, which killed five of the eight aboard. The detachment’s size and start date are not published.
Uganda Air Force College
Commanded by Brig Gen Allan Kalanzi; on 19 September 2026 it graduated pilots and aviation security, Raven drone and ground-based air defence personnel.
Flying training at Gulu
Jet and pilot training since 2011, with L-39s from Bulgaria, Cessna 172s and a simulator and training centre from Bulgaria’s Jotov & Son; defenceWeb saw about six L-39s at the November 2019 graduation. The unit designation is not published.
Proheli helicopter MRO plant
A joint venture of the UPDF’s National Enterprise Corporation and Russia’s Pro Heli International Services, unveiled in January 2022; the first Mi-24 overhauled there was handed over on 18 April 2023.
Fixed-wing transports
Let 410s, supplied through OMNIPOL and commissioned on 10 July 2026 for transport, air ambulance, VIP and paratroop roles, in a number the UPDF did not state; Wikipedia adds two Cessna 208 Caravans and a King Air 350. Their unit and base are not published.
What the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force flies today
Every type on charge, linked to its Book of Beasts page where one exists. Counts are aircraft on the books, not aircraft available on a given day.
| Type | Role | In service | Since | Units | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sukhoi Su-30MK2In service | Multirole fighter | 2011 | 5–6. Six ordered in 2010 and delivered by 2012 (SIPRI data quoted by Wikipedia), six in service in 2024 per Wikipedia; defenceWeb counted five in November 2019.
MoreNo loss was found in the sources checked. |
|||
| Mil Mi-24 / Mi-35In service | Attack helicopter | About 5–11.
MoreWikipedia: 5 (after a loss in July 2025) or 6 Mi-35 in 2024; defenceWeb’s 2019 IISS-based list: 4 Mi-24P/Mi-35P, 6 Mi-24PN and 1 Mi-24V/Mi-35 (11); GlobalSecurity said five of six were non-operational at one point. Serviceability, not ownership, explains much of the spread. |
||||
| Mil Mi-28NE Night HunterIn service | Attack helicopter | 2022 | 3–4 in service, 2 more on order according to Wikipedia. Three were photographed at Entebbe on 15 June 2022, with three more reported en route. | |||
| Mil Mi-17 and Mi-8In service | Transport helicopter | 4–10. Wikipedia: 10 Mi-17; defenceWeb’s 2019 list: 1 Mi-8MT/Mi-17 and 3 Mi-8T. | ||||
| Bell UH-1H / Bell 205In service | Utility helicopter | 5 | Five per Wikipedia (UH-1H) and defenceWeb (Bell 205). | |||
| Bell 206 JetRanger (AB 206)In service | Light helicopter | 3–5. Wikipedia: 5; defenceWeb 2019: 3 AB 206. | ||||
| Bell 212In service | Utility helicopter | 2 | Two in the 2019 IISS-based defenceWeb list; not in Wikipedia’s table, so current status is uncertain. | |||
| Aero L-39ZA/ZO AlbatrosIn service | Jet trainer and light attack | 2010 | 3–12. defenceWeb 2019: 3 L-39ZA; Wikipedia’s UPDF article: 8 L-39ZO; its air force article: 12 L-39ZA. At least six were flying at Gulu in November 2019. | |||
| Cessna 172In service | Primary trainer | |||||
| FFA AS 202 BravoIn service | Primary trainer | 1 | One in the 2019 IISS-based defenceWeb list; current status uncertain. | |||
| Let L-410In service | Light transport | 2026 | Number not stated by the UPDF. | |||
| Cessna 208 CaravanIn service | Utility transport | 2 | Two per Wikipedia. | |||
| Beechcraft King Air 350In service | Utility and VIP transport | 1 | One per Wikipedia. | |||
| Short SC.7 SkyvanIn service | Light transport | 1 | One in Wikipedia’s UPDF article; not in its air force article, so current status is uncertain. |
On order
| Type | Ordered | First delivery | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mil Mi-28NE Night HunterOn order | 2 | Two on order according to Wikipedia; not confirmed by the UPDF. Delivery dates were not found.
MoreThe L-39 Skyfox shown at Entebbe in December 2025 has not been ordered as far as the UPDF has announced. |
Every type the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force has retired
7 types, from the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21bis and MiG-21UM (MiG-21-2000) to the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21bis and MiG-21UM (MiG-21-2000). Peak figures are airframes taken on charge over the whole service life, not fleet strength on any one date.
| Type | Role | Peak | Served | Replaced by | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21bis and MiG-21UM (MiG-21-2000) | Fighter | 7 | 1998–2024 | Su-30MK2 | Six MiG-21bis and one MiG-21UM bought from Poland in 1998 (GlobalSecurity: seven in 1999). Five recorded in service in December 2021. | |
| Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF and MiG-21U/UM | Fighter | Up to 18 MiG-21MF and three MiG-21U in the early 1970s, with replacements after 1976; Wikipedia’s service history speaks of "several dozen" MiG-21MF, MiG-21UM, MiG-17 and MiG-15UTI together by late 1978. | ||||
| Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 | Fighter-bomber | Number not established; "some ex-Czech". | ||||
| Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI | Jet trainer | Number not established. | ||||
| Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23BN | Fighter-bomber | 5 | Five in IISS-based lists of 2012 and 2019, believed ex-Libyan; not in Wikipedia’s inventory. Whether they ever flew in Ugandan service, and when they left, was not established. | |||
| SIAI-Marchetti SF.260W | Basic trainer and light attack | 4 | Four in the 2019 IISS-based defenceWeb list; Wikipedia’s air force article now lists the type as retired. Retirement date not found. | |||
| Bell 214ST | Medium transport helicopter | Number not found. |
Where the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force flies from
Black pins are active bases; none of the airfields listed has closed. Entebbe, where the air force was founded in 1964 and lost 11 MiGs to the Israeli raid of July 1976, is still its headquarters, on the old airport side of Entebbe International Airport. Nakasongola, built by Israelis in the 1970s, has the longest runway and has long been named as the next headquarters; Gulu and Soroti share their runways with civil flying. Mogadishu is listed as the foreign base of the helicopters serving with the African Union mission. Coordinates are from English Wikipedia because the Uganda AIP could not be reached.
Uganda
One of the 5 bases above sits outside Uganda, so the world map has to pull back until the home airfields cannot be told apart. The same pins again, without the overseas base.
| Base | ICAO | Status | Runway | Units and aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aden Adde International AirportMogadishuBanaadir (Mogadishu), Somalia | HCMM | Active | 05/233,590 m |
|
| EntebbeWakiso District, Central Region | HUEN | Active | 17/353,658 m12/302,408 m |
|
| GuluGulu District, Northern Region | HUGU | Active | 17/353,135 m |
|
| NakasongolaNakasongola District, Central Region | HUNK | Active | 02/203,000 m |
|
| Soroti Air Force WingSoroti District, Eastern Region | HUSO | Active | 05/231,860 m09/27750 mlaterite |
|
No air base matches that search.
Who is stationed where in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force
Flying units by base, current units first. The UPDF does not publish squadron numbers, so units are listed by what they do: the headquarters at Entebbe, the Air Force College and the Proheli overhaul plant at Nakasongola, flying training at Gulu since 2011 and the helicopter wing at Soroti. The Uganda Army Air Force of 1964–1979 is listed at Entebbe and marked as former. Where only one source ties an aircraft type to a base, the entry says so.
- Air Force HeadquartersService headquarters · active
- UPDF Air Force aircraft at EntebbeFlying units · active
- Mil Mi-28NE Night Hunter
- Uganda Army Air Force1964–1979
- Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21
- Uganda Air Force CollegeTraining college · active
- Proheli helicopter MRO plantHelicopter overhaul plant (joint venture) · active
- Mil Mi-24, Mil Mi-8 / Mi-17
- Air force flying training at GuluFlying training · active
- Aero L-39 Albatros, Cessna 172
- Soroti Air Force WingHelicopter wing · active
- Mil Mi-28NE Night Hunter
- UPDF helicopter detachment, SomaliaDeployed helicopter detachment · active
- Mil Mi-24
No unit matches that search.
Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force milestones, 1914 to today
The Uganda Army Air Force is established at Entebbe; in late July cooperation with Israel is increased to set up an air force.
By the end of March all 470 Israelis are expelled. 18–20 September: the air force bombs Mwanza and Bukoba after an exile invasion from Tanzania.
3–4 July: Israeli commandos free the hostages at Entebbe and destroy 11 MiG-17s and MiG-21s on the ground.
18 October: Ugandan MiGs bomb Bukoba in the opening weeks of the Uganda–Tanzania War.
February: heavy losses leave the air force effectively eliminated. 7 April: Tanzanian troops take Entebbe and seize the remaining MiGs; up to 365 air force personnel surrender.
The National Resistance Army, which had no air wing, takes power; rebuilding starts from almost nothing.
Six MiG-21bis and one MiG-21UM are bought from Poland; IAI upgrades them from October 1999.
The Defence Forces Act gives the air force its present legal form. 30 July: the presidential Mi-172 crashes in southern Sudan, killing John Garang and seven Ugandan crew.
14 December: Operation Lightning Thunder opens with an air strike on Joseph Kony’s camp in Garamba.
The first Su-30MK2s arrive; six are delivered by 2012. Jet pilot training starts at Gulu with L-39s from Bulgaria.
12 August: two Mi-24s heading for Somalia crash in Kenya, with ten servicemen aboard; a third helicopter comes down on Mount Kenya and its seven crew are rescued.
30 November: air strikes on ADF camps in the Congo open Operation Shujaa.
23 January: the Nakasongola helicopter overhaul plant opens. June: the first Mi-28NEs arrive. November: Lt Gen Charles Okidi becomes Commander Air Force.
2 January: two pilots die in a helicopter crash at Ntoroko. The last MiG-21s are retired by late 2024.
March: the UPDF deploys to South Sudan. 2 July: Mi-24 AUO-015 crashes at Mogadishu, killing five. 1 December: an L-39 Skyfox is demonstrated at Entebbe.
10 July: Let 410 transports are commissioned. 19 September: the Air Force College at Nakasongola graduates pilots and air defence personnel.
Every war the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force has fought
Sorties and losses where the record gives them, and an honest blank where it does not.
- The 1972 invasion of Uganda 1972 Bombed Tanzanian border towns in retaliation for the exile invasion
- Operation Entebbe 1976 Did not fight in the air; its fighters were destroyed on the ground by the Israeli raiders
- The Uganda–Tanzania War 1978–1979 Bombed Tanzanian towns and troops, and tried to destroy Tanzanian rocket launchers
- The war against the Lord’s Resistance Army 2002–2009 Attack helicopters supported ground forces against the LRA; aircraft opened Operation Lightning Thunder in Garamba in December 2008
- African Union missions in Somalia 2012– Helicopter support, including combat escort, for the Ugandan contingent of the African Union mission
Who built the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force fleet
Every company behind the aircraft on this page has its own page: the story, every type it built, the numbers and the other air forces that fly them.
Current fleet and orders
Mil, Bell, Cessna, Aero Vodochody, Beechcraft, Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein (FFA), Let Kunovice, Short Brothers, Sukhoi
Former fleet
Everything people ask about the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force
What is Uganda’s air force called?
What fighter jets does Uganda have?
How much did Uganda pay for its Su-30s?
When was the Uganda Air Force founded?
How many Ugandan aircraft were destroyed in the Entebbe raid?
What happened to Uganda’s air force in the war with Tanzania?
Does Uganda use its air force in the Congo?
What attack helicopters does Uganda fly?
Who commands the Uganda Air Force?
Where are Uganda’s air bases?
Read the aircraft the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Air Force flew
Every type with a page in the Book of Beasts, in service first, then by the year it left the fleet.
Every fact, checked
- UPDF: Air Force (service page)Official name Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces – Air Force (UPDF-AF); established by the Defence Forces Act, 2005, section 3(2)(b); Commander Lt Gen Charles Okidi, Deputy Maj Gen David Biheimaiso Isimbwa, Chief of Staff Brig Gen James R. Itungo; mission and tasks. Page last modified August 2026.
- UPDF: The Mighty UPDF (home page)Lists the Air Force as one of the UPDF services; news to 30 September 2026.
- UPDF: site search results for "air force"Listing of 2026 Air Force news: 54 promoted officers decorated at Air Force Headquarters, Entebbe (30 August 2026); 56 retired officers honoured (15 August 2026); new service doctrines (21 May 2026); air defence course at the Air Operations and Command Centre, Entebbe (9 April 2026).
- UPDF: site search results for "aircraft"Listing includes Uganda’s pledge of air rescue capabilities to the Eastern Africa Standby Force (12 August 2026).
- UPDF: site search results for "helicopter"Listing includes the Pro Heli helicopter MRO facility commissioned on 23 January 2022 and the Air Force vigil of 15 July 2025 for the five killed in Somalia.
- UPDF: site search results for "Shujaa air"Listing of Operation Shujaa news, 2022–2025, including the capture of Boga airfield (February 2022).
- UPDF: CDF commissions new aircraft to boost UPDF Air Force capabilities (10 July 2026)Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba commissions Let 410 transports supplied through OMNIPOL, delivered two months early; number not stated.
- UPDF: CDF inspects potential new aircraft for UPDF Air Force modernization (1 December 2025)Aero Vodochody L-39 Skyfox demonstrator at Entebbe Air Base; no purchase announced; CDF links the modern air arm to the NRA, which had no air wing.
- UPDF: UPDF helicopter crash near Mogadishu Airport (2 July 2025)Mi-24 AUO-015 crashed about 0730 on a combat escort mission; eight aboard, five killed, three crew injured; three civilians injured; investigation opened.
- UPDF: UPDF Air Force passes out Mi-28NE attack helicopter pilots and engineers (22 March 2023)12 pilots and 52 engineers after an eight-month course at the Soroti Air Force Wing; Lt Gen Okidi on attack helicopters and the LRA war.
- UPDF: President Museveni commissions first overhauled Russian helicopter in Africa (18 April 2023)First Mi-24 overhauled at the Proheli International Services plant, Nakasongola, a joint venture with the National Enterprise Corporation; turnaround cut from three years to one year three months.
- UPDF: H.E. the President’s statement on UPDF Operation Shujaa (5 October 2023)President Museveni: on 4 October 2023 "fighter-bombers" attacked three targets 180, 184 and 200 km from the border in the Mambasa area; results not yet assessed.
- UPDF: Fare thee well: Lt Allan Tukamuhabwa eulogized (7 January 2024)Two pilots, Lt Allan Tukamuhabwa Kapando and Lt Swadiq Aroma, killed when a UPDF combat helicopter came down at Karugutu, Ntoroko district, on 2 January 2024; type not named.
- UPDF: UPDF Air Force graduates personnel in aviation disciplines (19 September 2026)Uganda Air Force College, Nakasongola: piloting, aviation security, Raven operations and ground-based air defence; Commandant Brig Gen Allan Kalanzi.
- Encyclopædia Britannica: Entebbe raid3–4 July 1976; 103 hostages rescued; 11 Soviet-supplied MiG fighters destroyed.
- defenceWeb: Uganda People’s Defence Force (profile, 10 October 2019)Inventory based on IISS: 5 MiG-21bis, 2 MiG-21, 5 MiG-23BN, 6 Su-30MK2, 3 L-39ZA, 1 AS-202 Bravo, 4 SF.260; Mi-24/35 variants, Mi-8/17, AB 206, Bell 205, Bell 212; about 1,200 personnel.
- defenceWeb: Ugandan Air Force graduates new pilots (8 November 2019)18 pilots and 20 technicians at Gulu on 6 November 2019; Cessna 172 and L-39 (from Bulgaria 2010–2012); 5 Su-30MK2; programme since 2011.
- Military Africa: Uganda acquiring Mi-28N Havoc attack helicopter from Russia (17 June 2022)Three Mi-28Ns photographed at Entebbe on 15 June 2022, three more reportedly en route; about five Mi-24s; MRO at Nakasongola from January 2022.
- GlobalSecurity.org: Uganda Air ForceFive MiG-23s believed ex-Libyan and six MiG-21s (citing IISS 2012); seven MiG-21s from Poland in 1999 upgraded by IAI 2002–2005; December 2008 MiG-21 crash; six Mi-24s, five non-operational.
- Nile Post: India signs deal to maintain Uganda’s fighter jets (4 March 2022)India–Uganda MoU for HAL support of the Su-30 fleet; Su-30s acquired in 2011 and used for strikes on ADF positions in the DRC.
- USAFE-AFAFRICA: 17th Air Force engages with Ugandan Air Force leaders (2 June 2010)Commander Maj Gen J.B. Owoyesigire; air force about five years old in its present form; Entebbe Air Force Base.
- The Observer (Uganda): Defence seeks Shs 57 billion to revamp Nakasongola air force base (18 January 2024)Shs 57 billion request; 3.6 km runway; built by Israelis in the 1970s; US$11 million spent in 2014; relocation incomplete.
- Human Rights Watch: The Christmas Massacres (16 February 2009)Operation Lightning Thunder began 14 December 2008 with an air strike on Kony’s camp; MiGs planned but weather forced use of helicopters; at least 865 civilians killed by the LRA from 24 December 2008 to 17 January 2009.
- UPDF: Gen Kainerugaba unveils Yoni Netanyahu monument at Old Entebbe Terminal, reaffirms Uganda–Israel ties (1 August 2026)Date, attendees and the CDF’s words.
- UPDF website search results: "Netanyahu"Lists the 1 August 2026 unveiling and a 12 August 2026 visit by the Czech parliament speaker to the memorial.
- Uganda Civil Aviation Authority – home page (list of UCAA-managed airfields)Lists Entebbe, Gulu and Soroti among UCAA-managed aerodromes; no public link to the AIP was found.
Figures verified 2026-10-01. Order of Battle pages are regenerated from a single dataset; if a number here disagrees with a Book of Beasts page, this page is the more recent of the two.
Photographs: Photo: Indonesian Air Force Information Service (Dispenau) / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) · Photo: Cecilio M. Ricardo Jr., U.S. Air Force / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) · Photo: Oleg V. Belyakov – AirTeamImages / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Photo: Don Ramey Logan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Photo: Mfield – Matthew Field, http://www.photography.mattfield.com / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5) · Photo: Hans Hillewaert / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Photo: Articseahorse / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Photo: Md Shaifuzzaman / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Photo: Airwolfhound from Hertfordshire, UK / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Photo: Gordon Leggett / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Photo: Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Photo: Srđan Popović / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Photo: Alan Wilson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Photo: Sir James / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0) · Photo: Capt. R. L. Pearce / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) · Photo: Shadman Samee from Dhaka, Bangladesh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Photo: Balon Greyjoy / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)