The Sudanese Air Force used an IL-76 military transport aircraft to strike at the rebel Rapid Support Forces.

Eyewitness footage has been posted online.

The country’s army used its only aircraft of this type to strike rebel positions near the city of El Fasher, located in the south of Sudan in the province of North Darfur.

The video shows the aircraft dropping unguided bombs, probably of the FAB-250 or FAB-500 series, followed by a series of four explosions. They are soon followed by two more.

The use of military transport aviation for such operations is possible due to the extremely low proliferation of air defense equipment in the country.

The highest-altitude anti-aircraft weapon of the Sudanese army is the Soviet Strela-2 portable anti-aircraft system, which was not seen in service with the Rapid Reaction Force. The Russian-backed rebels could theoretically receive their own anti-aircraft weapons, but there is no information on this at this time.

The Sudanese Air Force also has eight other military transport aircraft that can carry bombs: An-12TBK, An-26, and C-130 Hercules.

In addition to these, the country also has fighter aircraft and a dozen Su-24M frontline bombers, which were donated by Belarus in 2013.

IL-76 as a bomber

The IL-76 military transport aircraft can carry bombs weighing up to 500 kilograms on four suspension points under the wings.

Bombing from the aircraft can be performed automatically from the Kupol system or in manual mode using the NKBP-7 collimator bombing sight.

In March 2020, the Russian military practiced such bombing from their aircraft during an exercise in the Moscow region. The crews dropped two P-50T dumb bombs from an altitude of 4,000 meters, based on data from an onboard navigation system.

In March, the Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence officers shared the details of the operation in Sudan: what tasks they performed and why they were conducting the operation in that country.