Sudanese military fires air-to-air missile from drone to kill drone

Sudan’s military shot down an enemy combat drone using one of its own unmanned aircraft, with the Sudanese Armed Forces deploying a Bayraktar Akıncı drone to fire an air-to-air missile and destroy the target, according to footage released by Clash Report.

The engagement marks a notable moment in the ongoing Sudanese civil war, which erupted in April 2023 when fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces, the country’s official military, and the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary organization that grew out of the Janjaweed militias responsible for mass atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s. The conflict has since killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Both sides have increasingly turned to armed drones as a primary strike and reconnaissance tool, making the skies over Sudan a contested domain in ways that would have been unthinkable when the war began.

The Bayraktar Akıncı is Turkey’s most capable combat drone, built by Baykar, the Istanbul-based defense company that also produces the smaller and more widely known Bayraktar TB2. Where the TB2 is a medium-altitude system designed primarily for ground attack and reconnaissance, the Akıncı is a high-altitude, long-endurance platform built to carry heavier payloads and perform more demanding missions. It can reach altitudes above 40,000 feet, carry multiple air-to-ground and air-to-air weapons simultaneously, and operate with a high degree of autonomy. Sudan acquired the Akıncı as part of a broader push to build out its drone capabilities, and the Sudanese Armed Forces have used both TB2 and Akıncı systems extensively since the war began.

The use of an air-to-air missile fired from a drone to destroy another drone is not a common occurrence on any battlefield, and the Clash Report footage showing this engagement draws attention for that reason. Traditional air defense relies on ground-based radar systems, surface-to-air missiles, or manned fighter aircraft to intercept aerial threats. Using an armed drone in a hunter-killer role against another drone represents a different approach, one that eliminates the need to task scarce ground-based air defense assets or put a manned aircraft at risk. The Akıncı carries the capacity to mount air-to-air missiles alongside its ground-attack weapons, a capability that Baykar has highlighted in its promotional materials but that has seen limited confirmed combat use until now.

The identity of the drone that the Sudanese Armed Forces shot down remains unconfirmed in the Clash Report footage. The Rapid Support Forces have operated various unmanned systems throughout the conflict, with Iranian-made drones reported among the types in their inventory, though independent verification of specific RSF drone acquisitions has been difficult given the war’s information environment.

Sudan’s civil war has become one of the most intensive drone warfare environments outside of Ukraine and the Middle East. Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have used armed drones to strike urban areas, military positions, and infrastructure targets throughout the country. The RSF’s advances into Khartoum and other major cities in 2023 and 2024 were tracked and contested in part through aerial surveillance, and drone strikes have been documented in Darfur, Khartoum State, and along major axes of ground fighting. The conflict has effectively become a live testing ground for drone tactics in a sub-Saharan African context, with both sides adapting quickly to each other’s aerial capabilities.