We have a direct follow-up to our recent post on a number of advanced MiG-29s belonging to the Egyptian Air Force that were captured by Sudanese militia forces at Merowe Air Base outside the country’s capital of Khartoum. Satellite imagery obtained by The War Zone shows at least one of these aircraft destroyed and it is likely that others are badly damaged or destroyed, as well.
The imagery, taken this morning, shows one of the MiG-29M/M2s totally burned out on the apron next to two others. These are the same aircraft that showed up in videos of militants celebrating their capture, along with images of two more in a nearby hangar.
It looks like one of the adjacent Fulcrums had lost its fuel due to damage and the other may have been badly damaged, as well.
The disposition of the two MiG-29s in the hangar remains unknown. Based on our examination of the imagery, that hangar did come under attack with major damage now showing to its roof right above where the MiGs were parked. As such, it appears as if the MiG-29s were precisely targeted in opposition attacks.
The loss of any of these MiG-29s is significant for the Egyptian Air Force as the aircraft, which are roughly analogous to Russia’s most advanced MiG-35s, are relatively new, and feature modern capabilities.
It also appears that one of Sudan’s relatively new Chinese-built FTC-2000 light combat aircraft/jet trainers was also destroyed in the attacks. Sudan only has a half dozen of these aircraft.
You can read about what Egypt’s MiG-29s were doing at the base, their capabilities, as well as the general situation in Sudan at this time in our previous post linked here.
We will update this post as more information on the stranded MiGs becomes available.
Contact the author: tyler@thedrive.com