Akinci UAV deployed to southern Egypt airbase

A Bayraktar Akıncı UAV during tests of the Tolun IIR-guided glide bomb on 17 September 2024. (Baykar Tech)

At least one – probably more – Turkish-made Bayraktar Akıncı long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is now operating from an Egyptian airbase close to the Sudanese border, satellite imagery has revealed.

An Akıncı was seen at Sharq el-Owainat (East el-Oweinat) in a Vantor image for the first time on 3 August 2025. It was on the apron outside one of the hardened aircraft shelters (HASs) on the northwest side of the runways.

While only a single Akıncı can be seen clearly at the base in several Vantor images, the UAV was on different aprons on different dates, suggesting more than one are being stored in the HAS. A lower-resolution Planet Labs image from 28 December almost certainly shows two Akıncıs on the same apron at the same time.

A possible containerised ground-control station and a probable satellite communications (satcom) antenna appeared at the same part of the base sometime between 17 and 21 July, indicating this is when the Akıncı deployment began. The aircraft that delivered the equipment to the Egyptian airbase may have been visible in the 21 July image in the form of an A400M, a type of military transport that is not in Egyptian service, parked on the northern apron and an Il-76 freighter at the north end of the eastern runway.

Aviation observers who use open-source transponder data to track aircraft noted that a Turkish Air Force A400M switched its transponder off as it headed towards Sharq el-Oweinat on 21 July. It was flying from Tekirdağ-Çorlu, where the Akıncı manufacturer Baykar Technologies has one of its main facilities.

Additional Turkish Air Force A400M flights