How CIS Was Equipping Sudan with Arms

How CIS Was Equipping Sudan with Arms
The $120-million deal clinched with Sudan in 2001 for selling ten MiG-29SE fighters and two MiG-29UB fighters was the biggest contract for supplying Russia’s armaments to that state torn by the military clashes. The buyer got planes in 2003 and 2004.
In addition, Russia sold to Sudan 30 BTR-80 armored vehicles, 12 Mi-17 helicopters and 20 Mi-24 helicopters from 2001 to 2005, according to the U.N. files.

Russia apparently goes its own way when it comes to selling arms. In April 2002, for instance, Sudan’s Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Bakri Hassan Salih paid a visit to Moscow and was promised deliveries of most updated weapons, including Mi-17, Mi-28 helicopters, T-80 tanks, BMP-3 fighting vehicles and BTR-90 armored vehicles. But the matters didn’t go beyond rhetoric that time.

Of other states of the former Soviet Union, Belarus is the biggest armaments supplier to Sudan. According to official data, in 1996 to 2004, the Sudanese Army received 69 T-55 tanks, 87 armored vehicles, 6 Mi-24 helicopters, 24 D-30 howitzer weapons, 10 Gvozdika (Carnation) SP guns, 12 Grad valley fire systems. The sources say Sudan also bought a few warplanes, small arms and ammunition in Belarus.

Sudan got six BMP-2 fighting vehicles from Ukraine and at least one Mi-24 helicopter from Kyrgyzstan.

Nowadays, Sudan also has six MiG-23BN bomber-fighters of Soviet make, which it obtained in Libya, and An-26 and An-32 transport planes that were adjusted for bombing. A few Mi-4 and Mi-8 helicopters, MiG-21, An-12 and An-24 planes delivered by the Soviet Union in 1960’s have apparently worn out in 40 years of operation.
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