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W6nnews.com ==== وطن === تاريخ النشر – 2026-02-02 17:08:00
A new investigative investigation by the American newspaper The New York Times revealed the existence of a secret air base in Egypt, near the border with Sudan, which is used to launch drones that carry out air strikes inside Sudanese territory. The use of drones in the Sudanese war has witnessed a noticeable escalation, as both parties to the conflict rely on them to target locations far from the direct confrontation lines, which in many cases resulted in extensive damage to infrastructure and civilian objects, and casualties among the population. The secret base is located inside a huge agricultural project in the Western Desert of Egypt. According to the investigation, which was based on satellite images, flight records, and video clips, in addition to interviews with American, European, and Arab officials, these raids target the Rapid Support Forces, which the newspaper described as “an extremist paramilitary group that has been fighting against the Sudanese army for more than a thousand days.” The report indicated that the secret base is located within a huge agricultural project in the Western Desert of Egypt, surrounded by giant crop circles on the outskirts of the Sahara Desert, where military drones take off over vast wheat fields, heading to carry out strikes in what the newspaper described as one of the largest drone wars in the world. The New York Times said that the presence of this base provides new evidence that the conflict in Sudan has turned into a high-tech war, fueled by intertwined foreign interventions and interests. The investigation revealed that advanced military drones were stationed at the Egyptian airstrip, carrying out raids inside Sudan for at least six months. The newspaper reported that it did not receive responses from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, its Foreign Press Center, or from the Sudanese Army, to its inquiries regarding what was mentioned in the investigation. The Egyptian authorities have confirmed on more than one occasion their support for the Sudanese army and state institutions, and their commitment to the unity and sovereignty of the country. On the other hand, the Rapid Support Forces had previously accused the Egyptian Air Force of participating in targeting them during the ongoing battles in the country. The secret Egyptian air base behind the drone war in Sudan. The secret base provides new evidence of how the Sudanese conflict has turned into an arena for advanced technological warfare, driven by the interests of foreign powers. The airstrip is located next to giant agricultural circles on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Military drones take off over vast fields of wheat, leaving their secret base to participate in one of the largest drone wars in the world. The base is located in Egypt, hidden amid a massive agricultural project in the country’s western desert. But the targets are in Sudan. The secret drone operation provides new evidence of how Sudan’s civil war — wracked by famine, atrocities and tens of thousands of deaths — has turned into a vast theater of high-tech drone warfare, driven by the interests of competing foreign powers. Satellite images, flight logs, and videos reviewed by The New York Times, as well as interviews with American, European, and Arab officials, indicate that for at least six months, advanced military drones stationed at this Egyptian airstrip have been carrying out strikes inside Sudan. Its target was the ruthless paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting the Sudanese army for more than a thousand days. Video Neither the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Foreign Press Center, nor the Sudanese Army, responded to the questions directed to them for this report. Until recently, Egypt was mostly a diplomatic player in Sudan. But the drone activity indicates that it has entered the fight alongside the Sudanese army, adding a new layer to a war filled with foreign powers on both sides. Officials say that the United Arab Emirates is supplying the Rapid Support Forces with weapons. While Saudi Arabia and Qatar support the army, which also obtained weapons from Türkiye, Iran and Russia. Now Egypt, Sudan’s neighbor on the Nile River, has joined the fray, its secret drone base sparking veiled threats of retaliation from the Rapid Support Forces. Egypt’s participation shows how technology, more than ever before, is shaping the features of one of the world’s most disastrous wars, which displaced about 12 million people. Powerful, long-range drones are doing much of the fighting in Sudan — launching missiles at fighters and supply convoys, but also hitting mosques, hospitals and power plants. These strikes resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and fighters alike. The global boom in gold prices is one of the factors fueling the drone war. High prices have swollen war coffers, as both the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army rapidly extract the country’s reserves. But the main driver of drone activity remains interference by foreign powers. The Rapid Support Forces use long-range Chinese CH-95 drones, which are supplied by the UAE, its wealthy Gulf ally. As for the Sudanese army, it uses the latest drones operated via satellite from Baykar, the largest defense contractor in Türkiye. The UAE denies supporting any party in the war. A senior Turkish official said that the Baykar drones were exported in accordance with international law, and that the government does not provide any direct support to the Sudanese army. According to four American officials and one Middle East official, Turkish drones are hidden in Egypt to maintain their safety. It is still unclear whether Egyptian or Sudanese forces are operating these aircraft. The officials, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence information. Officials say that what prompted Egypt to enter the war was the fall of the Sudanese city of El Fasher, in the Darfur region, in late October. After a brutal 18-month siege, the Rapid Support Forces took control of the famine-stricken region, sparking global condemnation. Within weeks, the paramilitary group’s fighters advanced toward a new battlefield in the Kordofan region in central Sudan, threatening once again to invade the country. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has long feared the RSF’s control, was clearly disturbed by these developments. In December, he warned that a “red line” had been crossed in Sudan, from which some 1.5 million refugees had already flowed into his country. Around that time, Turkish “Akanji” drones — the same type seen in satellite images of Al-Qaeda in southern Egypt — began launching strikes deep inside Sudan, targeting Rapid Support Forces fighters and their supply convoys as they crossed the desert, according to an analysis of the video clips. In one video from November 5, a convoy of four trucks is shown burning in the Sudanese desert, after being targeted after crossing the border from Libya, which officials say has become a major source of weapons, fuel, and fighters for the Rapid Support Forces. The Egyptian drone base constitutes a precise equation for President Sisi. The Egyptian economy is highly dependent on the UAE, which in 2024 invested about $35 billion in a development project on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast — the largest foreign investment in the country’s history. But the UAE itself supports the Rapid Support Forces. Accusations of war crimes have been brought against both sides. Sudanese army aircraft carried out random attacks on villages, killing dozens. The most famous drone strikes were attributed to the Rapid Support Forces, including a barrage of strikes on a kindergarten that killed 114 people, including 63 children, according to the World Health Organization. While the Rapid Support drones help its fighters penetrate the front lines, the Sudanese army is using its Turkish aircraft to cut off vital supply lines coming to the Rapid Support Forces from Libya and Chad, according to a senior European official. To counter these strikes, it appears that the Rapid Support Forces obtained Chinese systems to jam drones and surface-to-air missile systems, likely provided by their Emirati sponsors, according to Wim Zweinenburg, a drone expert at the Dutch PAX organization. Pictures from the battlefields, some of which were verified by the New York Times, show Rapid Support Forces fighters claiming to shoot down at least four Turkish “Akanji” planes, each of which costs about $25 million, during the past four months. Zweinenburg said the race to acquire drones had brought “more chaos and destruction” to the conflict. Rapid Support Forces strikes have destroyed power plants and water facilities, cutting off electricity and clean water to millions of people. He added: “These planes spread terror among the population.” Egypt’s role in the drone war began in such a strange place that NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station had previously photographed it from space. The East Uwaynat Desert Reclamation Project, which began more than three decades ago on the eastern edge of the Sahara Desert, about 40 miles from the border with Sudan, relies on the largest known fossil groundwater system in the world to provide water for giant, fertile agricultural circles. In 2023, President Sisi visited the military-controlled project — Egypt’s second-largest wheat producer — to celebrate the harvest season. The project includes foreign investors, including major agricultural companies from the UAE. For two decades, the project was served by a single runway at the airport, used to export products and transport workers. But starting in 2018, the airport began quietly expanding, according to satellite images. By 2024, a second runway and about 17 hangars had been constructed, apparently for military purposes. Satellite images show fighter jets and small drones stationed at the base. It appears that small drones launched from the base are monitoring Egypt’s borders with Sudan, according to satellite data captured by the American company Ursa Space, which specializes in space intelligence. In July last year, Turkish cargo planes landed in eastern Uwaynat, sparking noticeable activity. A satellite communications system was installed next to one of the hangars, and vehicles were seen outside a ground control system, according to what Ursa Space found. Two weeks later, the Aqanji plane appeared on the airport apron. The Sudanese army had already dealt with the Turkish company “Baykar”, which manufactured the “Akanji” aircraft. In November 2023, seven months after the outbreak of civil war in Sudan, the army signed a contract worth $120 million to purchase six “Bayraktar TB2” drones, along with 600 warheads and a training and maintenance package. The New York Times obtained a copy of the contract, which was first revealed by The Washington Post. But the arrival of “Aqnji” aircraft last year provided much greater capabilities. With a range exceeding 4,500 miles, the “Aqnji” can carry at least three times the explosive payload of the “TB2” aircraft, according to experts, and its cost is about four times more. By December, there were at least two Aqanji aircraft operating from the base and carrying out strikes inside Sudan. Video clips of one of the strikes, reviewed by the New York Times, show a drone launching a guided bomb at a gathering of Rapid Support Forces fighters in a Darfur village more than 800 miles from the Egyptian base. Three weapons experts identified the type of ammunition as a guided bomb manufactured by the Turkish “Roketsan” company, and one of them said that only the “Akanji” plane had such a range. At least 20 people were killed in the strike, according to the newspaper’s analysis. Other clips, verified by the New York Times, also showed effects of strikes on a convoy of trucks near the border with Chad. “A drone hit Adikong, at the border, people. Drone, drone,” one witness said while filming a strike at a busy border crossing called Adikong. The strike ignited a massive fire and destroyed more than a dozen buildings, according to satellite images. While the drones were striking their targets inside Sudan, Turkish military aircraft and cargo planes continued to land at the Egyptian base, sometimes coming from Port Sudan. Several flights departed from Çorlu, a Turkish base where Baykar developed and tested the Agenji aircraft, according to flight data from the air traffic control company Aerion. Other flights were also operated by Aviacon Zetotrans, a Russian airline that has been subject to US sanctions since 2023 for its role in global arms smuggling, according to Ursa Space. “The Turkish Armed Forces do not conduct any activities in Sudan,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said in an email. Despite this technological race, neither side shows signs of concluding the war. The United States accused the Sudanese army of using chemical weapons, and the Rapid Support Forces of committing genocide, and imposed sanctions on both sides ostensibly to limit their ability to purchase more weapons. But these efforts appear to have failed. The pace of strikes from the Egyptian air base accelerated significantly after the fall of El Fasher. In an implicit acknowledgment that Egypt had sided with its opponent, the Rapid Support Forces issued veiled threats. The forces said in a statement in November that they knew that the drones striking their forces were “launched from a foreign base,” warning that they would respond “at the appropriate time and place.” The group’s leader, Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan, said in a video speech months ago: “Listen to these words carefully. Any drone that takes off from any airport is a legitimate target for us.” Ronen Bergman and Abdul Rahman Al-Tayeb contributed to the preparation of the report. The videos were produced by James Serdam and Jeffrey Bernier. Declan Walsh is the New York Times’ chief Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya. He has previously covered the Middle East from Cairo, and Pakistan from Islamabad. Malachi Brown is the newspaper’s director of visual investigations, and was a member of teams that won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2020 and 2023. Eric Schmitt is the New York Times’ national security correspondent and has covered America’s military and counterterrorism affairs for more than three decades. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/world/africa/egypt-sudan-drones.html?unlocked_article_code=1.I1A.zfWo.5GHHiFhhOpJE&smid=url-share
