Ethiopia Su-35: 12 Fighters Delivered, S-400s to Follow

Ethiopia has received its first 12 Su-35 fighters from Russia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced on October 28 while in Moscow for the third Russia-Africa Summit, adding that the country would also acquire four batteries of the S-400 long range air defence system. Abiy stated that the jets were delivered under an earlier intergovernmental agreement and arrived a year ahead of schedule, for which he thanked President Vladimir Putin personally. No value, payment terms or delivery date for the S-400 batteries was disclosed. Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport reported the same day that a batch of two Su-35s had been shown to Ethiopian recipients at Zhukovsky, which leaves it uncertain how many of the 12 jets have physically reached Ethiopia. The acquisition gives Ethiopia the first Su-35s in Sub-Saharan Africa and places its air force considerably ahead of every neighbour in the Horn of Africa.

An Ethiopian Su-35 order had been expected since October 2025, when files attributed to the state conglomerate Rostec and published by the hacker group Black Mirror listed Ethiopia as a customer for six of the fighters, alongside 48 for Iran. The leaked documents were never authenticated, and the doubling of the figure to 12 points to a significantly larger commitment than they suggested. The deal follows a series of reported Russian deliveries of trainers, light combat aircraft, electronic warfare equipment and short range air defence systems to the Ethiopian National Defence Force. Rosoboronexport head Alexander Mikheyev stated that the choice of the fighter was not accidental, calling it one of the best platforms to have proven itself in the war in Ukraine while operating alongside air defence and electronic warfare systems.

The Su-35 replaces the Su-27 as the most capable aircraft in the Ethiopian fleet, with Addis Ababa having bought Su-27s from Russia during the 1998-2000 war with Eritrea, when they were credited with shooting down several Eritrean MiG-29s. Its Irbis-E passive electronically scanned array radar and thrust vectoring AL-41F1S engines give it a far longer detection range and greater manoeuvrability than any fighter previously flown south of Egypt. The delivery comes as Ethiopia fights on several fronts, with Eritrean forces having crossed into Tigray in early October. Tensions with Cairo over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam also remain high more than a year after the dam was inaugurated in September 2025.

The S-400 order is likely to be read in Cairo as a response to Egyptian air power, with the Egyptian Air Force fielding 54 Dassault Rafale fighters and adding aerial refuelling capacity that would bring the dam within practical striking range. Four S-400 batteries, which can engage aircraft at up to 400 kilometres with the 40N6 missile, would complicate any Egyptian strike far more than the Soviet era S-75 and S-125 systems that have long formed Ethiopia’s ground based air defences. The system’s reach on paper exceeds that of any surface to air missile operated elsewhere in East Africa. Egypt had itself ordered around two dozen Su-35s in 2018 before abandoning the purchase under the threat of U.S. sanctions, with airframes built for Cairo later widely reported to have been offered to other clients.