Akıncı drones keep hunting Chinese-made CH-95s over Sudan

Sudan’s army has shot down at least six Chinese-made CH-95 drones flown by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since late June, using a Turkish-built Bayraktar Akıncı high-altitude long-endurance uncrewed combat air vehicle to intercept several of them in midair and on ground, according to footage published by the Turkish outlet Clash Report.

The most recent claimed kill came August 17, when Clash Report posted video it said showed an Akıncı destroying a CH-95 in an air-to-air engagement.

“EXCLUSIVE: Sudan Army’s AKINCI drone shot down a Chinese-made CH-95 drone operated by the UAE-backed RSF terror group in an air-to-air engagement,” Clash Report wrote.

The string of CH-95 losses began June 23, when an FH-95, the drone’s alternate designation, was destroyed north of Tawila in North Darfur. Two more followed in July, near Tendelti in White Nile state on July 2 and along the Bara-Omdurman road west of Khartoum on July 7. Sudanese officials attributed the July 7 kill to “ground-based air defenses,” though footage that surfaced afterward indicated an Akıncı carried out the intercept rather than a ground battery, Military Africa reported.

The Defence Blog previously reported on a July 14 operation near El-Obeid, the North Kordofan state capital, in which Clash Report footage showed an Akıncı firing an air-to-air missile at one CH-95 while a second was destroyed on the ground in the same operation. Neither the Sudanese army nor the RSF confirmed either incident at the time.

Screengrab from video posted by Clash Report to social media

The Akıncı is Turkey’s most capable combat drone, built by Istanbul-based Baykar. It has a wingspan around 20 meters (66 feet), a service ceiling above 12,192 meters (40,000 feet) and a payload capacity of up to 1,350 kilograms (2,976 pounds), giving it the endurance to loiter and engage aerial targets rather than function solely as a strike platform against ground positions.

Akıncı drone. Photo courtesy Baykar

The CH-95 is built by Aerospace Times Feihong Technology Company, a subsidiary of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Reported specifications vary by source, but the aircraft is generally described as a medium-altitude, long-endurance drone with a takeoff weight between roughly 650 and 1,000 kilograms and a service ceiling above 7,000 meters (22,966 feet), built for reconnaissance, electronic warfare and strike missions.

CH-95 Serbian Air Force. Photo courtesy Vojska Srbije

Sudan’s civil war has continued since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, a paramilitary group that grew out of the Janjaweed militias implicated in mass atrocities in Darfur two decades earlier. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have documented evidence pointing to Chinese-made drones and related equipment reaching the RSF with what investigators describe as Emirati involvement in the supply chain. The UAE has repeatedly denied providing military support to either side in the conflict.

Sudanese air defenses also engaged multiple RSF drones over Khartoum on August 12 and 13, downing several over northern and western Omdurman, according to Sudan Tribune. Falling drone debris killed two people in El-Obeid during that period.

The Akıncı’s role has shifted increasingly from striking ground targets toward functioning as an airborne interceptor, a pattern that has held since March, when Sudanese officials first accused the UAE and Ethiopia of launching drones into Sudanese airspace from an Ethiopian airbase.