Rocket booster recorded in Sudan points to use of Chinese SAM

A model of the FK-2000 displayed at IDEX 2025. The rocket booster recorded in Sudan appeared to be nearly identical to the one on the model of the system's missile in the background. (Janes/Jeremy Binnie)

A video showing a rocket booster purportedly from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) shot down in Sudan has increased the credibility of claims that Chinese-made FK-2000 mobile short-range air-defence systems have been deployed to the country.

Posted on TikTok on 14 September by a member of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the group fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in the current civil war, the video showed what he claimed to be part of a Bayraktar Akıncı UAV, which he described as the “pride of Türkiye”, being used to pin down the edge of a tent.

This was an apparent reference to wreckage recovered from one of the four Akıncıs the RSF has claimed to have shot down since 10 July. The crash of three Akıncıs have been confirmed by videos of the wreckage, one of which was filmed being hit by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) on 4 September.

The object in the TikTok video was clearly a rocket booster, but not one that matched any weapons known to have been integrated with the Akıncı. The folding fins at is base and exposed nozzle appeared to be an almost exact match for the ones on the model of the SAM used by the FK-2000 displayed at the IDEX 2025 show held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February.