Africa’s second most powerful military, Algeria, ranked 27th globally according to Global Firepower, has finally gotten its hands on Russia’s advanced Su-34M strike fighter jets amid a growing military buildup and strategic rivalry across North Africa.
Amid instability across the Sahel and Western Sahara, rivalry with Morocco, and fears of a Libya-style foreign intervention following the 2011 NATO-backed fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Algeria has since 2019 been linked to a major weapons procurement programme with Russia, one of the West’s key strategic rivals.
Earlier, in June 2025, Military Watch Magazine reported that the appearance of newly produced Su-34M fighter jets in desert camouflage “strongly indicates that the first batch of Su-34Ms for a foreign client is already in production.”
At the time, Algeria, alongside North Korea, the Syrian Air Force, the Sudanese Air Force and the Iranian Air Force, was considered a possible buyer.
However, the aircraft’s distinctive desert brown-and-yellow camouflage closely matched Algeria’s operational environment and long-standing defence ties with Russia..
