In the latest effort to halt the advancing Tigray Defence Force (TDF) and Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), it appears Ethiopia has purchased several Iranian-made Mohajer-6 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Plant SkySat satellite images analysed by Bellingcat.com identified two Mohajer-6 UAVs and a Ground Control Station (GCS) at Semara airport (now Ethiopian Air Force base) in north-eastern Ethiopia on 1 August. The GCS was then pictured when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited the air base days later.
The Mohajer-6, yet to be proven in combat, is the latest design in the Mohajer-series. It was unveiled in 2017 and entered production a year later, serving with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. It has an operational range of 200 km and 40 kg payload of two to four Ghaem-1, 5 or 9 precision-guided munitions. It has a 12-hour endurance with a maximum flight altitude of 5 500 metres. The nose of the lightweight UAV is fitted with an EOAS-I-18A forward-looking infrared (FLIR) turret.
Ethiopia’s unmanned aerial vehicle inventory previously consisted of Israeli systems (Aerostar UAS and WanderB mini-UAS) however their status is unclear and they cannot be armed.
The Ethiopian Air Force has extremely capable combat aircraft (eight Su-25s, 12 Su-27s, ten MiG-23s and 15 MiG-21s) but air strikes with large munitions easily kills civilians, as seen in late June. The Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) has an army of 162 000 and is equipped with mostly aging Soviet era infantry weapons, tanks and armoured fighting vehicles, artillery, air defence and logistic vehicles.