Uganda contracts India’s HAL to maintain Su-30 fleet

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Uganda has awarded Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) a contract to maintain and support its Su-30 combat aircraft fleet in a historic deal.

The MoU was signed by Lieutenant General Charles Lutaaya, Commander of the Uganda People’s Defence Air Force, at the Indian High Commission in Kampala.

In announcing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the beginning of March, the Indian Embassy in Uganda said the agreement with HAL is the first major defence agreement with Uganda following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unveiling of ’10 Principles of India-Africa Engagement’ in mid-2018.

HAL has a manufacturing license from Russia to build the Sukhoi Su-30 – the Indian Air Force also operates the type.

The Uganda People’s Defence Air Force acquired six Su-30MK2 Flankers between 2011 and 2012. They are operated by the Su-30 Squadron at Entebbe International Airport.

Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Kakurungu, the spokesperson of the UPDF, told The Independent that Uganda used the Su-30 jets when it bombed camps of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in November 2021 at the start of the hunt for ADF militants in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of Operation Shujaa.