Satellite imagery captured on 6 May 2026 shows a large unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) parked at Nyala Airport in South Darfur, an airfield controlled by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) assess with high confidence that the aircraft is a variant of China’s BZK-005, most likely the export-oriented BZK-005E.
The image, acquired by commercial satellite operator Vantor, shows a UAV with a wingspan of roughly 18.8 to 19 meters, a nose-to-tail length of about 10 meters, and a twin-boom tail with a 4.5-meter horizontal stabilizer. The wings sit in a tapered, straight configuration rather than swept back, and the aircraft carries a pusher-propeller layout. HRL published its findings on 2 June 2026 as Situation Report No. 75. The size and shape rule out the smaller CH-95-consistent drones HRL first spotted at the same airport in December 2024, which have a wingspan closer to 12 meters.
HRL cross-checked its assessment against other medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) platforms, including the Wing Loong-10, the MQ-9A Reaper, and Iran’s Shahed 129, before settling on the BZK-005 family as the closest match. Janes, the defense intelligence publisher, reviewed the same imagery and reached the same conclusion, going a step further to identify the specific aircraft as the “E” variant.
The BZK-005 was developed by Beihang University’s UAV Institute and is built by Harbin Aircraft Industry Group. The version was designed for long-endurance surveillance, with a reported range of 2,400 km, up to 40 hours of endurance, and a 150 kg payload. A combat variant, the BZK-005C, raised payload capacity to 300 kg, while the export-focused BZK-005E pushes that to roughly 370 kg and can reportedly be fitted with missiles. Both the C and E models carry electronic intelligence (ELINT) equipment, and open-source reporting points to electro-optical and synthetic aperture radar sensors as standard fit.
China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) has marketed the E-variant internationally under the additional name Sky Saker FX1000A, showing it at the Unmanned Systems Exhibition (UMEX) in Abu Dhabi in 2022 and 2024, at the International Defence Exhibition (IDEX) in 2023, and at Eurosatory in Paris in June, 2026. An armed version was also displayed with 4-under-wing missiles at Russia’s Army 2022 exhibition. Mauritania has stood as the only confirmed export customer for years, operating at least 8 of the aircraft; one crashed on 23 May 2026, according to the Mauritanian military. Indonesia operates at least 3. The Nyala sighting would mark the first documented appearance of the type in RSF hands.
UAE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK DRAWS SCRUTINY
NORINCO has displayed the BZK-005E under the banner of the International Golden Group (IGG), a UAE defense distributor that the Emirati conglomerate EDGE Group acquired a majority stake in during January 2024. EDGE Group was formed in 2019 from 22 private Emirati defense firms plus state-owned entities, and it runs a separate joint venture with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation that has produced Wing Loong II drones in UAE facilities since 2021. NORINCO and International Golden Group have also cooperated since at least 2019 through the China-Emirates Science and Technology innovation laboratory (CEST), a joint project on unmanned systems.
HRL and outside reporting have separately linked EDGE Group and its subsidiaries to earlier weapons transfers reaching the RSF, including Bulgarian-made mortars reported by France24 in 2025 and AH-4 heavy artillery pieces that HRL identified near El Fasher in November 2024. The UAE remains the only confirmed state operator of the AH-4, and International Golden Group distributes it.
HRL’s own methodology notes are explicit that satellite and open-source analysis cannot always determine intent or payload configuration, only presence and type. What is established is that RSF’s drone inventory at Nyala has grown in sophistication roughly every few months since the airfield reopened in September 2024, moving from small surveillance types to loitering munition swarms and now, potentially, a long-range platform capable of carrying guided weapons.