Sudanese Air Force combat record

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.

Conflito Anos Contra Aeronave principal Missões Aeronave perdida
First Sudanese Civil Warthe Anyanya warForça Aérea Sudanesa 1955–1972 Anyanya southern rebels Provost T.53, Jet Provost

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.

Resultado 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.

Voando para
Força Aérea Sudanesa
Onde
Southern Sudan
Ao lado de
Sem força aérea aliada
Contra
Anyanya southern rebels
Aeronave
Provost T.53, Jet Provost
Perdas
Not found in the sources reached.
Fontes
Wikipédia · Wikipédia · Wikipédia
Second Sudanese Civil Warthe war with the SPLAForça Aérea Sudanesa 1983–2005 Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) Antonov transports, Mi-24, Chinese and Soviet jets

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.

Resultado 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.

Voando para
Força Aérea Sudanesa
Onde
Southern Sudan, the Nuba Mountains and the oilfields
Ao lado de
Sem força aérea aliada
Contra
Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA)
Aeronave
Antonov transports, Mi-24, Chinese and Soviet jets
Perdas
Accidents included a C-130H on 26 February 1996 (91 dead) and an An-32 on 12 February 1998 that killed the First Vice-President.
Fontes
Human Rights Watch · Wikipédia · Wikipédia
War in DarfurDarfur 2003–2020Força Aérea Sudanesa 2003–2020 Sudan Liberation Army and Justice and Equality Movement Antonov transports, Mi-24, Su-25e mais 1

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).

Resultado 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.

Voando para
Força Aérea Sudanesa
Onde
Darfur
Ao lado de
Janjaweed and allied militias
Contra
Sudan Liberation Army and Justice and Equality Movement
Aeronave
Antonov transports, Mi-24, Su-25, MiG-29
Perdas
At El Fasher on 25 April 2003 rebels destroyed four Antonovs and helicopter gunships according to the government, seven aircraft according to the rebels; 75 military personnel were killed. A Mi-24 crashed near El Fasher on 18 April 2011. JEM claimed a MiG-29 over Omdurman on 10 May 2008; the government denied it.
Fontes
Human Rights Watch · Tribuna do Sudão · UN Security Council · Wikipédia · Wikipédia · Wikipédia
Heglig crisisthe border war with South SudanForça Aérea Sudanesa 2012 South Sudan (SPLA) MiG-29, Antonov An-26

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.

Resultado 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.

Voando para
Força Aérea Sudanesa
Onde
Unity State and the Heglig oilfield
Ao lado de
Sem força aérea aliada
Contra
South Sudan (SPLA)
Aeronave
MiG-29, Antonov An-26
Perdas
South Sudan claimed a MiG-29 shot down over Unity on 4 April 2012; Sudan denied any air raids had taken place.
Fontes
Wikipédia
Intervenção liderada pela Arábia Saudita no IêmenOperação Tempestade DecisivaForça Aérea Sudanesa 2015–2019 Houthis (Ansar Allah) Su-24

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.

Resultado Sudan cut its troop commitment from 15,000 to 5,000 in December 2019.

No Sudanese strike or sortie figures were published.

Voando para
Força Aérea Sudanesa
Onde
Yemen, flying from Saudi Arabia
Ao lado de
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco
Contra
Houthis (Ansar Allah)
Aeronave
Su-24
Perdas
The Houthis claimed on 28 March 2015 to have shot down a Sudanese aircraft and captured its pilot; Sudan denied that any of its four warplanes had been hit.
Fontes
Tribuna do Sudão · Wikipédia · Wikipédia
Sudanese civil war (2023–present)the war with the Rapid Support ForcesForça Aérea Sudanesa 2023– Rapid Support Forces (RSF) MiG-29, Su-24, Su-25e mais 3

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.

Resultado Continua no momento da redação deste texto.

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.

Voando para
Força Aérea Sudanesa
Onde
Khartoum, Darfur, Kordofan, Al-Jazirah and the north and east
Ao lado de
Sem força aérea aliada
Contra
Rapid Support Forces (RSF)
Aeronave
MiG-29, Su-24, Su-25, Il-76, Antonov transports, Akinci and other drones
Missões
The army says it destroyed more than 112 RSF drones between January and August 2026.
Perdas
Sudan War Monitor reports the loss of nearly all air force equipment since 2023. Losses on record include the C-130H at Wadi Seidna (21 March 2024), an An-26 at Omdurman (25 February 2025, at least 46 dead, the army blaming a technical fault) and an Il-76 near Babanusa (4 November 2025, claimed by the RSF, blamed by the army on a wing malfunction).
Fontes
Human Rights Watch · Human Rights Watch · Tribuna do Sudão · Tribuna do Sudão · Wikipédia · Wikipédia · Wikipédia · Tribuna do Sudão · Tribuna do Sudão · Tribuna do Sudão · Tribuna do Sudão · Tribuna do Sudão · Sudan War Monitor · Tribuna do Sudão

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Fontes e Leitura Complementar

Cada número, verificado

Dados verificados em 01/10/2026. Back to the Sudanese Air Force.