Social media has been flooded with footage of the Sudanese Air Force's Bayraktar Akinci using an Eren loitering munition to intercept an unknown aerial target. Online, the aircraft was immediately dubbed a UAE Air Force Rafale fighter jet.
As evidence, observers point to the fact that the Rafale has two jet engines just like the target seen in the video. If it truly was a Rafale, this would mark the first time in history that an unmanned aerial vehicle has shot down a manned aircraft.
Read more: TRV 150 Heavy Drone Fires Three APKWS Rockets in U.S. Army Test, Cheap Shahed Hunter Takes Shape
However, on the Rafale the engines are positioned very close together, meaning that on the Akinci's thermal camera imagery they would appear closer to one another — and their heat signatures could even merge into one. Other possibilities were also proposed.
These included the L-15 combat trainer and the CH-6 heavy strike drone, both of Chinese manufacture. However, the UAE has only just begun receiving its L-15s and would clearly not be sending combat trainers on strike missions all the way to Sudan.
As for the CH-6, its full-scale mockup was only unveiled in 2021, and there are no reports of the drone ever having completed its first flight — let alone entering serial production or being exported. In addition, both alternatives feature different wing shapes and engine placement. So what did the Sudanese Akinci actually shoot down?
Comparing the engine placement and fuselage shape of the Akinci with what was visible in the footage, it becomes clear that the target was in fact another Akinci — meaning the Sudanese Air Force's Akinci shot down another Akinci, likely belonging to the Ethiopian or UAE Air Force.
This would actually be the second such incident in Sudan where one Akinci has shot down another. How the same Turkish drone ended up fighting on opposing sides was covered in an earlier report.
Notably, both times it was the Sudanese Air Force’s Akinci that did the shooting using the new Eren loitering munition, which was first unveiled in 2025 and first tested against aerial targets in February of this year.
Supporting the theory that an Akinci was shot down, new photographs of the drone's wreckage have appeared on social media. It should be noted, however, that this wreckage may be old, as a significant number of Akincis have been lost on both sides of the conflict in Sudan over the past year.
Read more: UK Intelligence Officially Reveals Staggering Scale of russian Casualties for First Time
