Every war the Air Force of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has fought
For much of its history the air force fought with foreign crews or beside foreign air forces: CIA-contracted and Cuban exile pilots in 1964, Egyptian pilots and technicians in Shaba in 1977, and Zimbabwean and Angolan aircraft in the Second Congo War, whose death toll is contested between the International Rescue Committee’s estimate of 5.4 million and the Human Security Report Project’s about 860,000. In the war against the M23, a UN Group of Experts reported at least 6,000 Rwandan soldiers in Congo and Rwandan drones and air defence missiles supporting the M23; Rwanda denies supporting it, and each claim is given with the side that makes it. No reliable public count was found of the Congolese aircraft lost or seized at Goma and Kavumu in 2025, and none is given. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Katanga secession of 1960 to the war against the M23 and the Alliance Fleuve Congo.
| Conflict | Jaren | Tegen | Hoofdvliegtuig | Uitvallen | Vliegtuig verloren | |
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| The Katanga secession and the UN operation in the CongoCongo crisisCongolese air force (from mid-1961) | 1960–1963 | State of Katanga | ||||
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Created to oppose the Katangese air arm; the air war against Katanga was fought mainly by the UN’s own air component. Katanga’s secession in July 1960 gave Moïse Tshombe’s province an air arm before the central government had one. The Aviation militaire katangaise inherited colonial aircraft — five Doves, eight T-6s, a Heron, an Alouette II, a Piper and a Sikorsky H-19 — and added at least six Dornier Do 28s and three of nine Fouga Magisters bought from France, delivered by Seven Seas Airlines. It was commanded in turn by the Belgian Victor Volant, the Katangese pilot Jean-Marie Ngosa with a Belgian adviser, the South African Jerry Puren and, from early 1962, the Polish veteran Jan Zumbach, and it raided UN troops and positions on several occasions. Both Wikipedia articles on the Congolese service say it was created in mid-1961 largely to oppose this force. The secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld died when his aircraft crashed on 18 September 1961 on the way to talks with Tshombe; the cause has never been definitively established. By 15 January 1963 the UN controlled Katanga, the Katangese aircraft were mostly destroyed or abandoned, and the survivors went to the Congolese air force. Resultaat The UN had full control of Katanga by 15 January 1963; surviving Katangese aircraft were integrated into the Congolese air force. The Congolese air force’s own part in the fighting is not documented in the sources checked. Claims that Katangese pilots shot down Hammarskjöld’s aircraft are unconfirmed and are not adopted here. |
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| The Simba rebellionincluding Operation Dragon RougeCongolese air force, with CIA-supplied aircraft and foreign pilots | 1964–1965 | Simba komt in opstand | B-26K Counter-Invader, armed trainers | |||
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Ground attack against the Simba rebels by aircraft supplied by the United States and flown largely by Cuban exiles and mercenaries; Belgian paratroopers were dropped from US aircraft to free hostages. The Simba rebellion of 1964 overran much of eastern Congo and put the government’s survival in doubt. The response was an air arm that was Congolese in name and American in substance. The US State Department’s documentary history records covert programmes that provided paramilitary and air support to the Congolese government. About 200 Cuban exiles recruited by the CIA fought on the ground and flew for the Congolese air force; CIA-contracted pilots, some of them veterans of the Bay of Pigs, flew B-26K Counter-Invaders delivered from Hurlburt Field in 1964; and Jerry Puren led a group of mercenary pilots flying armed Second World War trainers. The CIA front company Anstalt WIGMO kept the fleet serviceable from 1964 to 1968. On 24 November 1964, in Operation Dragon Rouge, five US Air Force C-130s dropped 350 Belgian paratroopers on Stanleyville’s airport; over the next two days more than 1,800 Americans and Europeans and about 400 Congolese were evacuated, though Wikipedia records that almost 200 foreigners and thousands of Congolese were killed by the Simbas. Resultaat The rebellion was defeated by 1965; the hostages at Stanleyville were largely freed in November 1964. Aircraft numbers, sorties and losses were not found. Casualty figures are Wikipedia’s summary of published accounts.
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| Shaba Ithe 80-day warZairian Air Force (FAZA) | 1977 | Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FNLC) | Mirage 5M | |||
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Mirage 5s bombed FNLC positions, with Egyptian pilots and technicians, while Moroccan troops were flown in by French aircraft. On 8 March 1977 about 2,000 FNLC fighters, many of them former Katangese gendarmes, crossed from Angola into Shaba. The Zairian army was disorganised and the air force’s contribution was limited: French-supplied Mirages bombed places such as Kisengi, which Zaire identified as the rebel headquarters, and Egypt sent about 50 pilots and technicians to help operate them. The decisive move came from outside: on 9 April Morocco airlifted 1,300–1,500 paratroopers in eleven French Transall C-160s. By late May the FNLC had been expelled, and Kapanga was declared retaken on 26 May. The campaign showed both the value of the Mirage purchase and the limits of an air force that needed foreign crews to use it. Resultaat The FNLC was driven out by late May 1977; Kapanga was retaken on 26 May. Numbers of Zairian sorties and losses were not found; figures come from Wikipedia’s summary of published accounts. |
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| Shaba IIKolweziZairian Air Force (FAZA) | 1978 | Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FNLC) | ||||
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The air force’s own role is not documented in the sources checked; the town was retaken by French and Belgian paratroopers with US airlift support. On 11 May 1978 the FNLC crossed from Angola again and took the mining town of Kolwezi. This time the response was almost entirely foreign: about 600 men of the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment retook the town after a seven-day battle, Belgian troops took part, and US Air Force airlift units, including a combat control team, supported the operation. Some 2,250 European residents were flown out to Belgium. For the Zairian air force the two Shaba wars were a demonstration of dependence: its aircraft could bomb, but it took French, Belgian and Moroccan troops, and American and French transport aircraft, to restore control. Resultaat Kolwezi was retaken and 2,250 Europeans were airlifted out. Zairian air operations in Shaba II were not documented in the sources checked; casualty figures are Wikipedia’s.
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| Deployment to ChadMirages in N’DjamenaZairian Air Force (FAZA) | jaren 80 | Libië | Mirage 5M | |||
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Three Mirage 5Ms deployed with 1,750 Zairian troops and helped train Chadian forces after Libya’s incursion into northern Chad. Wikipedia’s Mirage 5 article records that Zaire, then a customer of French arms, deployed three of its Mirage 5Ms alongside 1,750 troops to N’Djamena after Libya’s incursion into northern Chad, and helped train local troops to fight Libya. It is one of the few foreign deployments by the Zairian air force on record. No account of combat by the Zairian aircraft was found. Resultaat Niet gedocumenteerd in de geraadpleegde bronnen. The year and duration of the deployment are not given in the source checked and are left out.
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| First Congo Warthe fall of MobutuZairian Air Force (FAZA) | 1996–1997 | AFDL, Rwanda, Uganda and Angola | ||||
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Played little part; most aircraft were unserviceable, and aircraft imported by Serbian mercenaries had little effect. The war began on 24 October 1996, according to Wikipedia, with Rwanda-backed forces moving into eastern Zaire; Angola joined in February 1997 and the AFDL rebels under Laurent-Désiré Kabila marched across the country. Mobutu’s air force, worn down by a decade of corruption and lack of funds, had few flyable aircraft. The government hired Serbian mercenaries, who brought some aircraft of their own, but English Wikipedia judges that they had little effect; Rwanda’s Paul Kagame later cited their use at Walikale as evidence that Mobutu intended real war against Rwanda. Mobutu left Kinshasa on 16 May 1997, and the next day Kabila was proclaimed president. Resultaat Mobutu fled Kinshasa on 16 May 1997; Laurent-Désiré Kabila was proclaimed president on 17 May and Zaire became the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Types and numbers of the mercenary aircraft were not confirmed in the sources checked. |
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| Second Congo WarAfrica’s world warLuchtmacht van de Democratische Republiek Congo | 1998–2003 | Rwanda, Uganda, RCD and MLC | Su-25, MiG-23, Mi-24 | |||
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A small Congolese air arm rebuilt with Su-25s from 1999; the heaviest air support for Kinshasa came from the air forces of Zimbabwe and Angola. The war began in August 1998 when Rwandan troops under James Kabarebe hijacked three aircraft and flew them to the government base at Kitona on the Atlantic coast, where the garrison went over to them. Kabila survived because his allies came with air power: according to Wikipedia, Air Force of Zimbabwe Hawks and Hunters struck rebel and Rwandan offensives around Mbuji-Mayi, and Angolan aircraft flew Zimbabwean tanks and armoured vehicles into Kinshasa. The Congolese air force itself was rebuilt during the war; defenceWeb dates the first ten Su-25s to 1999, and MiG-23s and Mi-24s joined the inventory. The war’s death toll is contested: the International Rescue Committee estimated 5.4 million deaths in 2008, mostly from disease and malnutrition, while the Human Security Report Project argued for about 860,000 excess deaths. Resultaat The Lusaka ceasefire (July 1999), the Sun City and Pretoria agreements (2002) and the Global and All-Inclusive Agreement of 17 December 2002 led to the formal end of the war on 18 July 2003. Congolese air force operations are poorly documented in public sources; the arrival dates of the MiG-23s and Mi-24s were not confirmed.
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| The war against the M23 and Alliance Fleuve Congoeastern DRCLuchtmacht van de Democratische Republiek Congo | 2022– | M23 / Alliance Fleuve Congo and Rwanda (per UN Group of Experts; Rwanda denies) | Su-25, Mi-24, CH-4 | |||
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Su-25s, Mi-24s and CH-4 drones flying strikes and support against the M23 from Goma until January 2025, and from bases further west since. Air power returned to the east as soon as the M23 resumed its offensive. Two Su-25s were deployed to Goma in November 2022; on 7 November Rwanda said one had violated its airspace and touched down briefly, and Kinshasa said it had entered Rwandan airspace "unfortunately" and without intent. On 24 January 2023 Rwanda fired on another Su-25 after saying it had violated its airspace, and Wikipedia reports that the aircraft was damaged. The government then ordered nine Chinese CH-4 armed drones, of which ADF reported six delivered by May 2024. Human Rights Watch found that the Rwandan military and the M23 made at least five apparently unlawful attacks on populated areas near Goma in 2024, and that Congolese forces also put civilians at risk. In January 2025 the M23 took Goma; its airport fell on 28 January with more than 1,200 soldiers surrendering, and about 280 Romanian contractors were allowed to leave via Rwanda. The UN Group of Experts reported at least 6,000 Rwandan troops in Congo and Rwandan TB2 drones and air defence missiles; Rwanda denies supporting the M23. In 2026 the AFC/M23 claimed drone attacks on Kisangani airport, saying it ended the army’s "air superiority"; local authorities said the drones were shot down. Resultaat Continuing. The M23/AFC took Goma airport on 28 January 2025 and Kavumu on 14 February 2025; a US-mediated DRC–Rwanda agreement was signed on 27 June 2025 and a Doha declaration with the M23 followed in July. Casualty figures in this war are contested; the UN reported nearly 3,000 dead in the Goma offensive. Accounts of what happened to Congolese aircraft at Goma and Kavumu were not found in a reliable source and are left out.
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Niets komt overeen met die zoekopdracht.
Elk cijfer, gecontroleerd
- defenceWeb: Democratic Republic of the Congo (military profile, 19 November 2025)About 2,500 air force personnel; Su-25 ~6 (10 in 1999, 2 in 2012); Mi-24 8 (3 unserviceable); CH-4 3–6 of 9; Mwari 6 on order; transports and helicopters.
- The Defense Post: DR Congo Deploys Fighter Jets Against M23 Rebels (8 November 2022)Two Su-25s deployed; Rwanda’s statement on the airspace violation and the DRC reply.
- ADF (Africa Defense Forum): Drones, Heavy Weapons Dominate DRC’s Fight With M23 (28 May 2024)Six CH-4 delivered; drones from Bulgaria and Turkey; Rwandan SAM fired at a UN drone in February 2024.
- Bellingcat: The Strange Tale of the Georgians in Congo (26 June 2017)Georgian Mi-24 pilots and trainers at Goma; Mi-24 9T-HM12 lost on 27 January 2017.
- Human Rights Watch: World Report 2025 – Democratic Republic of CongoAt least five apparently unlawful attacks by the Rwandan military and M23 near Goma in 2024; Congolese artillery near displacement sites.
- Africanews: AFC/M23 rebels claim responsibility for drone attack on Kisangani airport (4 February 2026)AFC/M23 claim; local authorities say eight drones shot down.
- US Department of State, Office of the Historian: FRUS 1964–1968, Volume XXIII, Congo, 1960–1968 (preface)Covert programmes providing paramilitary and air support to the Congolese government.
Cijfers geverifieerd op 1 oktober 2026. Back to the Air Force of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.