Algeria sends four Su-30 fighters and tanker to Niger after coup attempt

Algeria deployed four Sukhoi Su-30 fighters and an Ilyushin Il-78 aerial refueling aircraft to Niamey on August 30, 2026, a day after mutinous soldiers attacked Niger’s main military airbase and the presidency.

The Algerian Ministry of National Defense (MDN) said in a statement issued on August 30, 2026, that two patrols of Su-30 jets landed at Niamey airport that morning, accompanied by a tanker. The aircraft were sent in response to a request from Nigerien authorities, on the instructions of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who also holds the defense portfolio, and on the order of Army General Said Chanegriha, chief of staff of the People’s National Army.

Algerian Air Force Su-30 fighters at Niamey airport. (Credit: Algerian Ministry of National Defense)

The MDN described the mission as support for the Nigerien army against an attempt to destabilize the country. The statement said Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine met the aircraft on arrival. As of the MDN release, no duration, basing arrangement, or operational task had been disclosed, and the ministry did not say whether the fighters would fly sorties over Niger.

Algeria’s Su-30 fleet consists of the Su-30MKA, a version built to Algerian specifications and first accepted in 2007. The Ilyushin Il-78 is the only aerial refueling aircraft type in Algerian Air Force service.

Mutiny targets Niger’s main military airbase

Gunfire and explosions broke out across Niamey in the early hours of August 29, 2026, around the presidency and Air Base 101, the Nigerien Air Force installation inside the Diori Hamani International Airport (NIM) complex.

Nigerien state television said soldiers from a base in the capital had opened fire on sensitive sites and that security forces had contained the disturbance. Agency reporting citing unnamed security sources placed the recapture of the airbase on August 30, 2026. No Nigerien official statement confirming a timeline had been published as of that date.

French forces completed their withdrawal from Air Base 101 on December 22, 2023, after Niger’s junta ended its Western cooperation agreements. The US military followed in July 2024, and the installation was attacked twice earlier in 2026.

Niamey lies roughly 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) south of Algiers, while Algeria’s Flanker fleet is based in the north of the country.

A rare overseas combat deployment for Algeria

Algeria has not historically deployed combat forces abroad. The constitution approved by referendum on November 1, 2020, permits participation in peacekeeping operations under United Nations, African Union or Arab League frameworks and requires a two-thirds parliamentary vote before army units are sent outside national territory.

The MDN statement referred to neither a parliamentary vote nor a multilateral mandate, describing the deployment instead as bilateral military cooperation. Four helicopters were flown from the In Guezzam secondary deployment base to Niamey on August 9, 2026, as a donation to the Nigerien army.The post Algeria sends four Su-30 fighters and tanker to Niger after coup attempt appeared first on AeroTime.

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