Every war the Sudanese Air Force has fought
Most of these wars were fought inside Sudan. Findings on Antonov and helicopter attacks in the south and in Darfur come from Human Rights Watch and the UN Panel of Experts, and the government rejected them at the time. The strikes and the MiG-29 shoot-down of the 2012 Heglig crisis are South Sudanese claims that Sudan denied, and Sudan also denied the Houthi claim of 2015 to have shot down one of its aircraft over Yemen. In the war with the Rapid Support Forces, strike attributions are those of Human Rights Watch and UN bodies, the army and the RSF each deny targeting civilians, and RSF shoot-down claims are given beside the army’s accounts of technical faults. 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 first southern civil war to the war with the Rapid Support Forces since 2023.
| Conflict | Jaren | Tegen | Hoofdvliegtuig | Uitvallen | Vliegtuig verloren | |
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| First Sudanese Civil Warthe Anyanya warSoedanese luchtmacht | 1955–1972 | Anyanya southern rebels | Provost T.53, Jet Provost | |||
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Wikipedia lists the war among the air force’s engagements; its armed Provosts and Jet Provosts were bought for close support. The first civil war began in 1955, a year before independence, and lasted until the Addis Ababa Agreement of March 1972; Wikipedia’s war article puts the death toll at 500,000 to one million. The young air force was equipped for exactly this kind of war: its first combat aircraft, Provost T.53s ordered in May 1957, carried two machine guns and light bombs, and the Jet Provosts of 1962 were, in Wikipedia’s words, delivered "with a close air support capability". Beyond that, the sources reached say almost nothing about how the air force was used against the Anyanya. Resultaat Ended by the Addis Ababa Agreement of March 1972. The air role in this war is poorly documented in the sources reached; no strikes, sorties or losses are given here.
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| Second Sudanese Civil Warthe war with the SPLASoedanese luchtmacht | 1983–2005 | Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) | Antonov transports, Mi-24, Chinese and Soviet jets | |||
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Bombed rebel-held areas with Antonov transports and attacked with helicopter gunships and jets, according to Human Rights Watch. The second civil war began on 5 June 1983 and killed one to two million people, most from hunger and disease, according to Wikipedia. Human Rights Watch documented indiscriminate bombing as early as 1994. Its 2003 report on oil and human rights describes the government opening the May 1999 offensive in Ruweng County with "Antonov bombers and helicopter gunships" before tanks and militia moved in, says oil revenue bought 16 new attack helicopters in 2001–2002, "more than tripling" the fleet, and reports helicopters killing 24 civilians at a relief food distribution site in early 2002. The Antonov, a transport aircraft whose crew rolled bombs out of the rear door, became the symbol of the war in the south. Resultaat Ended by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in Nairobi on 9 January 2005; South Sudan became independent in 2011. Figures on strikes and casualties come from Human Rights Watch; the government’s response to these specific findings was not found in the sources reached.
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| War in DarfurDarfur 2003–2020Soedanese luchtmacht | 2003–2020 | Sudan Liberation Army and Justice and Equality Movement | Antonov transports, Mi-24, Su-25en nog 1 | |||
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Bombed villages and rebel areas with Antonovs, helicopter gunships, MiGs and Su-25s, according to Human Rights Watch and the UN Panel of Experts; the government denied targeting civilians. The rebel raid on El Fasher on 25 April 2003 turned a local rebellion into a war, and the government answered with air power. In May 2004 Human Rights Watch reported Antonovs dropping "crude but lethal ‘barrel bombs’ filled with metal shards" on Masalit, Fur and Zaghawa areas, and found that Antonovs bombed Habila six times on 27 August 2003, killing 24 people. In 2007 the UN Panel of Experts reported a white-painted An-26 with UN markings at El Fasher and mapped more than 100 aerial bombardments; Sudan’s UN ambassador, Abdelmahmood Abdelhaleem, called it "a fabricated report" and "big lies". In 2011 former Panel members recorded five Su-25s, three Mi-17s and several Mi-24s in Darfur. Estimates of the war’s dead range from about 10,000 (the Sudanese government) to more than 300,000 (a British parliamentary report). Resultaat Ended by the Juba peace agreement of 31 August 2020. Most strike and casualty findings come from Human Rights Watch and the UN Panel of Experts, and the government rejected them at the time.
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| Heglig-crisisthe border war with South SudanSoedanese luchtmacht | 2012 | South Sudan (SPLA) | MiG-29, Antonov An-26 | |||
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South Sudan accused Sudanese aircraft of bombing its territory; Sudan denied carrying out air raids. Fighting over the Heglig oilfield ran from 26 March to 26 September 2012. According to Wikipedia’s account, which cites South Sudanese statements and the press, the Sudanese Air Force bombed the Unity oilfield on 27 March, an improvised An-26 bomber hit Bentiu on 12 April, two MiG-29s missed the Bentiu bridge on 14 April, killing four civilians and a soldier, and a raid on Rubkona on 23 April killed at least three. South Sudan said it shot down a MiG-29 on 4 April. Khartoum called the accusations "fabrications" and said no aerial bombing had taken place. Resultaat An agreement on 27 September 2012 set up a demilitarised border zone and resumed oil exports. Every strike and the claimed shoot-down are South Sudanese claims or press reports; Sudan denied them.
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| Saoedische interventie in JemenOperatie Beslissende StormSoedanese luchtmacht | 2015–2019 | Houthi's (Ansar Allah) | Su-24 | |||
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Sent three or four Su-24s and transport aircraft to King Khalid Air Base for the coalition air campaign. Sudan joined the coalition at the start of Operation Decisive Storm in March 2015. President Omar al-Bashir told al-Masry al-Youm that Sudan had sent three Su-24 fighters and some transport aircraft, while other officials spoke of four Su-24s; Al-Arabiya footage showed them at King Khalid Air Base, and Bashir said "Sudanese pilots are representing you well as they fly their jets over the skies of Yemen." The coalition spokesman did not detail Sudanese strikes. Sudan’s much larger contribution was on the ground, with about 15,000 troops at the peak. Resultaat Sudan cut its troop commitment from 15,000 to 5,000 in December 2019. No Sudanese strike or sortie figures were published.
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| Sudanese civil war (2023–present)the war with the Rapid Support ForcesSoedanese luchtmacht | 2023– | Rapid Support Forces (RSF) | MiG-29, Su-24, Su-25en nog 3 | |||
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The army’s main advantage over the RSF: air strikes with jets, transports used as bombers and, increasingly, armed drones. The war began on 15 April 2023, and on the first day the RSF seized Merowe air base. Air strikes became the army’s main weapon in Khartoum and Darfur. Human Rights Watch says the army and its allies "indiscriminately bombed populated areas", citing among others a 10 September 2024 strike on a market south of the capital that killed at least 46 (the two sides blamed each other), unguided OFAB-250 and FAB bombs on Nyala, and a strike on a mosque in West Kordofan on 21 June 2025 that killed 41. The army spokesman, Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah, called the Nyala findings "untrue and detached from reality" and accused the RSF of attacking hospitals, water and power. The RSF has used drones against Merowe, Port Sudan from 4 May 2025 and Khartoum’s power stations. On 3 September 2026 the UN fact-finding mission said drone strikes by both sides may amount to war crimes; the UN Human Rights Office counted more than 1,000 civilians killed by drones between January and 11 May 2026. In October 2024 the RSF leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), accused Egypt of bombing RSF positions at Jebel Moya and of supplying the army with eight warplanes; Egypt’s response was not found in the sources reached. Resultaat Wordt nog steeds verwerkt op het moment van schrijven. Overall death toll estimates range from 150,000 to 400,000 and are highly uncertain (Wikipedia). Strike attributions are those of HRW and UN bodies; the army and the RSF each deny targeting civilians.
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Elk cijfer, gecontroleerd
- Human Rights Watch: Darfur Destroyed (6 May 2004)Antonov barrel bombs, helicopter gunships and MiGs in Darfur; Habila bombed 27 August 2003, 24 killed.
- Human Rights Watch: Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights (24 November 2003)Antonov and gunship attacks in the oilfields; 16 attack helicopters bought 2001–2002; 24 killed at a relief site in 2002.
- Human Rights Watch: World Report 2025, SudanEvents of 2024: indiscriminate bombing by the army; 10 September 2024 market strike; drone attacks in Bahri.
- Human Rights Watch: World Report 2026, SudanEvents of 2025: army air strikes in Khartoum, Nyala, El Fasher and West Kordofan; RSF drone strikes on power stations.
- Sudan Tribune: Sudan accuses UN panel of fabricating claims on Darfur (20 April 2007)UN Panel findings on white aircraft and aerial bombardment; Sudan’s ambassador’s denial.
- UN Security Council: Panel of Experts on the Sudan, reportsList of Panel reports (for example S/2024/65 of 15 January 2024 and S/2025/239 of 17 April 2025); the report texts could not be retrieved.
- Sudan Tribune: Sudanese planes pound Houthi targets in Yemen (2 April 2015)Bashir: three Su-24s and transport aircraft; others say four; King Khalid Air Base.
- Sudan Tribune: Antonov crash in Omdurman (25 February 2025)Crash after take-off from Wadi Seidna; army blames technical fault; Major General Bahr Ahmed Bahr killed; RSF Ilyushin claim in South Darfur.
- Sudan Tribune: RSF drones hit Sudan air base, flights suspended at Port Sudan airport (4 May 2025)Osman Digna air base hit; army spokesman Brigadier Nabil Abdallah; Port Sudan the temporary capital.
- Sudan Tribune: Port Sudan hit by drone strikes for third time; airport, oil depots targeted (6 May 2025)Continuing RSF drone strikes on Port Sudan, May 2025.
- Sudan Tribune: Sudanese army denies Nyala bombing as HRW details civilian toll (4 June 2025)HRW findings on unguided bombs on Nyala; army spokesman’s denial; RSF shoot-down of 24 February 2025.
- Sudan Tribune: Military plane crashes due to technical fault in Kordofan (4 November 2025)Army: wing malfunction; RSF claims an Ilyushin shot down.
- Sudan Tribune: Foreign support, deadly drone strikes in Sudan war may amount to war crimes, UN says (3 September 2026)UN fact-finding mission to the Human Rights Council; more than 1,000 drone deaths January–11 May 2026 (OHCHR); Kalogi and Ed Daein strikes; Akinci drones; UAE denial.
- Sudan Tribune: Special report: How a high-tech drone war is tearing Sudan apart (23 September 2026)Shahpar deliveries, Akinci and Mohajer-6 losses claimed by the RSF, drone claims by both sides.
- Sudan Tribune: RSF leader accuses Egypt of direct military intervention in Sudan’s war (9 October 2024)Hemedti’s accusation of Egyptian air strikes at Jebel Moya; Egypt’s reply not in the article.
- Sudan War Monitor: Sudan military strikes arms deal with Pakistan as its air war falters (12 January 2026)Reuters report of a 1.5 billion dollar package; loss of nearly all air force equipment since 2023.
Cijfers geverifieerd op 1 oktober 2026. Back to the Sudanese Air Force.