Footage has been released capturing russia's delivery of up to six Yak‑130 jet trainer and light combat aircraft as well as at least one Orion reconnaissance and strike UAV to Ethiopia.
The Yak-130s have the tail numbers 2301, 2302, 2303, 2305, and 2306. They were demonstrated during the Aviation Expo 2026 air show at the Bishoftu airfield of the 1st Central Air Base of the Ethiopian Air Force. This was reported by russian Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
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This announcement is noteworthy for several reasons. In January 2025, Myanmar received six Su‑30SMs from russia, which appears to have been the last "legal" contract for russian aircraft, in the sense that at the time there was no public information about any other export contracts, excluding its work with Iran.
It turned out that russians successfully sold their Yak‑130 aircraft to Ethiopia, which had previously received two problematic "Indian" Su‑30Ks in January 2024—aircraft that russia had been trying to sell for 15 years.
It is known that Ethiopia is one of the traditional buyers of russian weapons. The core of the Ethiopian Air Force's combat aviation consists of eight Su-27s and three Su-27UBs purchased from russia in the 1990s, as well as the two Su-30Ks, one Su-25T, two Su-25UBs, and six MiG-23BNs mentioned above. The total number of combat aircraft comes to 22. In one of our publications, we described how these russian-supplied Su-27s fought against Eritrea's MiG-29s in Ethiopia, and why this story was so significant.
Military and technical cooperation between russia and Ethiopia after February 2022 developed not only in the aviation field. In October 2023, the russian federation sold the Krasukha-4 electronic warfare system to Ethiopia. In June 2025 it became known that although Ethiopia has no access to the sea and lacks its own ships, this has not stopped it from building the headquarters of its future fleet in cooperation with russia.
However, when it comes to UAVs, Ethiopia boasts a veritable "zoo," including the Turkish Akinci and Bayraktar TB2, the Iranian Mohajer‑6, and the Chinese Wing Loong I. Against this backdrop, one (or even several) Orion UAVs from russia look like nothing more than an "addition to the collection." For russians, this could carry psychological weight, as it marks the first publicly known export of the Orion reconnaissance and strike drone, previously deployed only sporadically in Ukraine.
russians are not providing any information on the possible cost of the contract to supply Yak‑130 aircraft and Orion drones to Ethiopia, including whether payment has been made, and if so, whether it was in cash, via barter, or on credit.
It is likely that, for russians, this delivery of Yak‑130s and Orion UAVs carries mainly psychological significance: it shows that their military products remain in demand, at least among Third World countries loyal to the Kremlin.
Ivan Kyrychevskyi, serviceman of the 413th Raid Regiment of the Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine and weapons expert at Defense Express.
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