Egypt’s secret drone intervention in Sudan revealed

Egypt is running a secretive military intervention in Sudan. Drones are being flown out of an airbase in the Sahara. Egypt is striking Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targets in support of the Sudanese government. The New York Times (NYT) acquired satellite images of the base, which sits close to the Sudanese border, hidden amid a vast agricultural project:

The airstrip sits next to giant crop circles at the edge of the Sahara. Military drones take off over enormous fields of wheat, leaving their covert base for one of the world’s biggest drone wars.

The war in Sudan is theoretically between the Arab supremacist RSF and the Sudanese government. But foreign states pursuing their own interests are backing the combatants. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), for example, backs the RSF with arms and equipment. Egypt backs the government, alongside Russia, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Israel has backed both sides at different times.

RSF has killed Sudanese civilians in vast numbers. And some estimates say 150,000 people have died and over 10mn have been displaced by fighting.

Egypt upscales its intervention in Sudan

The NYT reported on 3 January that:

for at least six months, advanced military drones based at the Egyptian airstrip have been carrying out strikes in Sudan.

The paper said:

Egypt, until recently, was mostly a diplomatic player in Sudan. But the drone activity suggests it has entered the fight alongside Sudan’s military, adding yet another layer to a war bursting with foreign powers on either side.

Egypt’s weapon of choice reflects a trend in warfare globally. Drones are the order of the day. The NYT said:

The clandestine drone operation offers new evidence of how the civil war in Sudan — racked by famine, atrocities and tens of thousands of deaths — is morphing into a sprawling theater for high-tech drone warfare driven by the interests of rival foreign powers.

Egyptian operations have been impactful enough that RSF has even threatened retribution. But RSF is also using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Theirs are Chinese-made, but supplied by the UAE. The UAE denies involvement.

Turkish arms, African wars

The Sudanese military uses drones too. Their UAVs are of Turkish manufacture. US officials said Sudanese drones made by Turkish firm Baykar were being flown from Egypt.

The fall of the southern Sudanese city of El Fasher in October 2025 reportedly sparked Egypt into action. The Egyptian government fears an RSF-controlled Sudan.

Egypt is in a precarious position. The country is a recipient of massive investment by UAE, RSF’s most important backer:

Egypt’s economy is highly dependent on the Emirates, which in 2024 invested $35 billion in a development project on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast — the country’s largest ever foreign investment.

Since 2018 Egypt has been expanding its airfield 40 miles from the Sudanese border. Turkish drones have been operating from the strip for several years:

But the arrival of Akinci drones last year provided vastly greater capabilities. With a range of more than 4,500 miles, the Akinci can carry at least three times more bombs than the TB2, according to experts. It also costs at least four times more.

By December [2025], at least two Akinci drones were operating from the base and striking targets inside Sudan.

Featured image via the Canary