Sudan's war has escalated into a full-scale drone conflict, with both the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) striking not only military positions but also homes, schools, markets and hospitals.
The conflict, which began in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 11 million and created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
In the southern Kordofan region, which is currently witnessing the fiercest fighting since the RSF consolidated its hold on the western Darfur region, drone strikes kill dozens of people at a time.
This month alone, strikes killed 15 children at a displacement camp and 28 people at a market, according to medical sources and a rights group.
Here is an overview of Sudan's drone conflict:
- Global concerns -
UN rights chief Volker Turk recently condemned the surge in aerial attacks as "a reminder of the devastating consequences on civilians of the escalating use of drone warfare".
The air war also dominated a recent UN Security Council session, where Britain warned that foreign military support was prolonging the conflict.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said "military men still convince themselves" victory is possible because they continue to secure "ever more lethal weapons".
State media reported this month that the army destroyed drones as well as Chinese-made air-defence systems used by the RSF, which in turn said it had downed several Turkish-made Bayraktar Akinci drones.
Cooper added that "external support from at least a dozen states" -- in funding, manufacturing, transit and training -- is fuelling the war.
The United Arab Emirates is widely accused of supplying weapons to the RSF, which it denies.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey have backed the Sudanese army.
- Drones used by the army -
The RSF accuses the army of using Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones.
The TB2 -- 6.5 metres (21.3 feet) long with a 12-metre wingspan -- can fly 150 kilometres, stay aloft for 27 hours and carry 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of guided munitions.
The RSF also says the army deploys the more advanced Bayraktar Akinci, with a 7,500-kilometre range and 25-hour endurance.
AFP-verified satellite imagery showed that in recent months, aircraft corresponding to Turkish-made Bayraktar drones have appeared on different occasions at an airbase in Egypt's southwestern desert, just north of the Sudan border. Egypt has previously denied any military involvement.
The army is also accused of receiving Iranian support. According to the US-funded Conflict Observatory at George Mason University, Tehran delivered Mohajer-6 drones to the army on flights into Port Sudan between December 2023 and July 2024.
The Observatory identified a Mohajer-6 drone and its ground station in Khartoum in 2024.
The Mohajer-6, which is 5.6 metres long, has a 500 to 2,000-kilometre range and can carry out precision strikes with guided munitions.
French researcher Roland Marchal told AFP that Iranian-supplied drones were crucial to the army's counter-offensive that recaptured Khartoum and Wad Madani, the capital of the central Al-Jazirah state.
- Drones used by the RSF -
The RSF is also accused of building its drone arsenal with foreign support.
Amnesty International said last year the group had been using Chinese-made Wing Loong II and FH-95 drones supplied by the United Arab Emirates.
Amnesty also identified fragments of a Norinco GB50A guided bomb used in an RSF strike on a North Darfur town in March 2025. Markings showed it was made in 2024 and compatible with both drones.
The use of the FH-95, which has a 250-kilometre range and a 200–250kg payload, was documented by Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), which recorded three of the drones at the RSF controlled Nyala Airport between December 2024 and January 2025.
HRL has also reported a sharp rise in the RSF's use of loitering munitions, or "kamikaze drones", in Nyala.
Satellite imagery from January and February 2026 identified at least 85 objects consistent with such munitions across two RSF held sites: Nyala Airport and the former UNAMID headquarters.
The army has repeatedly struck Nyala Airport, alleging it is used to receive weapons and personnel from the UAE -- accusations Abu Dhabi denies.
HRL said many loitering munitions in Nyala resemble Iranian-designed Shahed-136-style drones, whose 1,500 to 2,500-kilometre range makes them hard to detect. How they reached RSF-held areas remains unknown.