Algeria Flies Four Sukhoi Fighters to Niamey

Four Algerian Sukhoi Su-30 fighters crossed into Niger on Sunday and landed at Niamey’s main airport, a day after soldiers tried to seize the capital.

An Il-78 tanker flew with them. Some reports say an Il-76 transport came too. Before they touched down, the jets swept over the city. Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine was on the tarmac to greet the crews, with Defence Minister Gen. Salifou Mody and other senior officers standing nearby.

Algiers said Niamey asked for the aircraft. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered the move. Army chief Gen. Saïd Chanegriha sent two patrols — four Su-30MKAs in all — to back the Nigerien army after what the defence ministry called an attempt to destabilise “the brotherly nation.” No one has said how long the jets will stay, or whether they will fly combat sorties.

The timing was deliberate. Overnight from 28 to 29 August, mutinous soldiers hit Base 101 at Diori Hamani International Airport, then fired near the presidential palace and the state broadcaster. The fighting lasted hours. Loyalist troops, with help from Russia’s Africa Corps, took the sites back. Dozens of mutineers were killed or detained. Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani’s government held.

This was not Algeria’s first shipment this month. On 9 August it gave Niger four helicopters — two Mi-24 gunships and two Mi-171 transports — plus ammunition and spare parts. Those were a gift. The Su-30s are still Algerian planes, flown by Algerian crews.

Niger and Algeria share a long desert border. Since the 2023 coup that put Tiani in power, Niamey has pushed out French and later American forces and drawn closer to Russia and to Mali and Burkina Faso. Algeria has been building its own military ties with those governments. Parking advanced fighters on the apron in Niamey is a public show of that backing.

The Su-30MKA is a long-range, two-seat fighter built for Algeria. With a tanker it can stay in the air for hours. Whether that turns into actual missions over Niger has not been announced.

Early posts online called the jets a donation. Official statements from Algiers, and the reception in Niamey, describe something narrower: Algerian aircraft sent to stand with the government after a close call.