File image.
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) announced on May 23 that it had shot down a “hostile drone” that crossed the border from Ethiopia.
The military, which is allied to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey, have been engaged in a power struggle with the Rapid Support Force, backed by the United Arab Emirates, for more than three years now. Earlier in the month, it accused Ethiopia of facilitating Emirate drone strikes in support of the paramilitary force in Sudan.
In a brief statement, the SAF said that the drone was shot down over Al-Damazin, the capital of the Blue Nile State, which is located in the southeastern region of Sudan, bordering Ethiopia.
The military shared footage of the interception, but a more clear video came from the Turkey-based Clash Report, which revealed that the hostile drone was shot down by an Akıncı combat drone.
The Akıncı, developed by Turkey’s drone giant Bayraktar, has an operational range of 7,500 kilometers, an endurance of 25 hours and a service ceiling of over 12 kilometers. The drone, which costs around $30 million, was developed to carry out strategic missions, including reconnaissance, surveillance, and precision strikes.
The drone is seen firing what may be an EREN high-speed loitering munition. The turbojet-powered munition was unveiled by Turkish defense company Roketsan last year, and has been already test fired from the Akıncı.
The EREN, which weighs just 35 kg, is a hybrid between a missile and a drone. It can be launched from air, land, and naval platforms to engage slow-moving aerial targets, like drones, armored vehicles, and maritime targets with pinpoint accuracy.
The loitering munition has a range of up to 100 kilometers. It utilizes a GPS-aided inertial navigation system, and an Imaging Infrared seeker with an artificial intelligence-based automatic target recognition system.
Earlier in May, SAF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Asim Awad Abdelwahab revealed that the military had obtained evidence of several Emirate drone strikes since March 1 originating from neighboring Ethiopia’s Bahir Dar airport. He claimed that the UAE provided the Akıncı drones, which were used to carry out the strikes.
One of the drones was shot down by an Akıncı operated by the SAF at the time, and footage from that interception shows many similarities with the more recent engagement. This suggests that the EREN was also used in the first interception, and that the hostile drone shot down over Al-Damazin was most likely also an Akıncı provided by the UAE.
It’s worth noting that the SAF has been operating Akıncı drones for well over a year, and satellite images from last February revealed that drones of this type based at Sharq El Owainat Airport in Egypt and possibly directly operated by Turkey have been also backing the military in their fight against the paramilitary group.
The latest incident came just a day after the RSF announced that it had destroyed a Turkish-made Hisar-A short-range air defense system of the SAF close to the highly strategic town of Rahid al-Nuba in the North Kordofan State. The system, developed by Turkey’s Roketsan and Aselsan, may have been operated by a Turkish crew. There is also a possibility that it was targeted by one of the Akıncı drones provided by the UAE.
Turkey is clearly now playing a much bigger role in the ongoing conflict in Sudan. While it officially backs the SAF, its weapons are clearly finding their way to the other side.
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