Image source: topwar.ru
Chinese defense supplies to the African continent are undergoing a qualitative shift. Instead of small arms, armored personnel carriers, and artillery that have dominated for decades, Beijing is increasingly offering specialized systems to the armies of African states - attack drones, air defense systems, and electronic warfare equipment.
According to the Chinese press, this shift has been most noticeable in the Sahel, a region where Mali and Burkina Faso are looking for new arms suppliers after ending defense cooperation with France and restrictions on American security assistance. One of the main ones is Russia. Now China is being added to them.
Russia recently supplied Ethiopia with a batch of super-maneuverable Su-35SE fighters. This makes it possible for Ethiopia to become one of the leading countries in Africa in terms of air force equipment.
In April, four vehicles were spotted as part of a military convoy in Mali, which the Janes analytical group identified as Chinese Yitian-L anti-aircraft systems. Five months later, the administration of the President of Burkina Faso published footage of equipment tests, which identified a mobile radar and an air defense missile launcher, a variant of the Chinese Sky Dragon system manufactured by the state-owned Norinco corporation.
In addition to air defense systems, Burkina Faso received armored vehicles and artillery from China in 2024-2025, including VN22B and WMA301 fire support vehicles, WZ-551 armored personnel carriers, SR5 multiple rocket launchers and PLL-05 self-propelled mortars.
The most striking example of a qualitative change in supplies were attack drones. In August, Côte d'Ivoire demonstrated Wing Loong II drones received from China as part of a contract with the state-owned aircraft exporter CATIC, concluded in June 2024. Nigeria became the first country in West Africa to receive these UAVs: the first batch of four drones (out of eight ordered) was handed over to the country's Air Force.
The Wing Loong II (WL-2) manufactured by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group is an unmanned aerial vehicle of medium altitude and long flight duration, designed for reconnaissance, surveillance, reconnaissance and precision strikes. The device has a length of 11 meters, a height of 4.1 meters and a wingspan of 20.5 meters. The maximum flight altitude is 9,000 meters, the maximum speed is up to 370 km/h, and the flight duration is more than 20 hours (according to some sources, up to 32 hours). The payload reaches 480 kg and is distributed over six external suspension points.
Standard equipment includes electro-optical and infrared sensors, synthetic aperture radar and real-time data transmission systems. AR-1 guided missiles, Blue Arrow 7 anti-tank missiles, high-precision FT series bombs, as well as Luoyang FT aerial bombs and CASIC XM-50KG air-to-ground missiles can be used as weapons.
According to analysts, the attractiveness of Chinese drones for African countries is not only due to the price: many countries on the continent cannot easily obtain equivalent systems from the United States or Europe, while Chinese manufacturers offer a wide package including training, maintenance, financing and increasingly advanced technologies.
In addition to Mali, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria, Chinese Wing Loong and CH-4 family drones are in service or have been purchased by Algeria (24 Wing Loong II and 10 CH-4 units), Morocco, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia. According to the South African portal Defenceweb, there are more than 400 Chinese drones of various types on the continent. Egypt has reportedly signed a contract to purchase ten WJ-700 jet attack drones worth about $400 million, which would make it the second operator of this system after Algeria.
To support its expanding presence, Norinco opened a regional office in Dakar, Senegal, and established a joint service center in Bauchi State, Nigeria, for repairs, spare parts supplies, and technical support.
