Ethiopia Boosts Drone Production to Fight Rebels

Ethiopia has been manufacturing drones at two factories since last year and is now thought to have a fleet of thousands, analysts say, giving the government an edge against its multiple insurgent enemies. Turkish drones were decisive during the country’s devastating civil war of 2020 to 2022, when the federal army used them to push back rebels from the northern Tigray region who had come within 200 kilometres of the capital, Addis Ababa. Only the federal army has military drones in the country of 130 million people, and they have been deployed repeatedly against insurgents operating in several regions. Increasingly, they are made domestically. In March 2025, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed inaugurated the SkyWin Aeronautics Industries factory in the capital, manufacturing “unmanned aerial vehicles for both civilian and military use”, according to the state’s Ethiopian News Agency, which said they were “designed and built by our own young professionals”. Abiy said the aim was not “not to fuel conflict, but to prevent it” through “deterrence”. But much of Ethiopia’s capability remains a mystery, and the authorities have refused access to the site for foreign media. … Ethiopia has bought Turkey’s top-end Akinci drones and the more basic Bayraktar TB2 models, as well as the cheaper Wing Loong from China and Mohajer-6 from Iran. (AFP)