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List of Sukhoi Su-25 operators

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Sukhoi Su-25 operators
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File:World operators of the Su-25.png
Map indicating Su-25 military operators:
  Active operator
  Previous operator

This compilation details all known users of the Sukhoi Su-25 aircraft.

Active operators

File:Belarus Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 Pichugin-1.jpg
Su-25 of the Belarusian Air Force
File:Bulgarian Su-25K Frogfoot.jpg
Su-25 operated by the Bulgarian Air Force at Bezmer Air Base in 2013
File:Chad Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 at N'djamena Airport (2).jpeg
Chadian Air Force Su-25 stationed at N'Djamena International Airport
File:Sukhoi Su-25K at RIAT-92.jpg
Sukhoi Su-25K from the Czechoslovak Air Force displayed at Royal International Air Tattoo 1992
File:Kazakhstan Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 Pichugin-1.jpg
Su-25 belonging to the Kazakhstan Air Force
File:Macedonian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24K Lofting-1.jpg
Macedonian Air Force Sukhoi Su-25
File:Peruvian Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 SDLP-1.jpg
Peruvian Air Force Su-25
File:Sukhoi Su-25SM (2).jpg
Russian Air Force Su-25SM variant
File:Sudanese Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 Onyshchenko-1.jpg
Sukhoi Su-25s of the Sudanese Air Force
File:Su-25 Turmenistan AF (7105317801).jpg
Turkmenistan’s Su-25
File:Ukrainian Air Force Su-25UB with two MiG-29s (9-13) in background.jpg
Ukrainian Su-25UB trainer aircraft
Template:ANG
  • National Air Force of Angola – A deal was finalized in early 1988 between Angola and the Soviet Union for the delivery of a squadron of Su-25s. This export agreement included twelve single-seat Su-25Ks and two two-seat Su-25UBK trainers, with additional deliveries later providing at least three more two-seaters. As reported in 2021, twelve aircraft remained operational.[1]
Template:ARM
  • Armenian Air Force – Armenia initially did not inherit any Su-25s after the Soviet Union dissolved. However, between 1992 and 1993, six Su-25Ks and two Su-25UBKs were covertly supplied from Russia as military assistance. Additionally, on 15 November 1993, a Georgian pilot defected with a Su-25K to Armenia. By January 2009, Armenia operated five standard Su-25s, nine Su-25Ks, and one Su-25UBK. During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenian forces reportedly lost at least four of their own Su-25s. As of 2021, thirteen were still reported as operational.[1]
Template:AZE
  • Azerbaijan Air Force – Similar to Armenia, Azerbaijan began without any inherited Su-25s after the USSR's breakup but acquired one in April 1992 following a defection from a Russian base. Subsequently, Azerbaijan obtained at least five more through unofficial means and another via defection from Georgia. A 2001 inventory showed three Su-25s in service despite losses during Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts. Eleven aircraft were operational as of 2021.[2]
Template:BLR
  • Belarus Air Force – Post-Soviet breakup, Belarus became the second CIS country after Russia to possess a large number of Su-25s, with seventy single-seat and six two-seat models operational by 2004, primarily stationed at Lida air base. By 2021, sixty-seven remained active. In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans for Belarusian jets to be equipped with nuclear capabilities.[2]
Template:BUL
  • Bulgarian Air Force – Bulgaria was the second Warsaw Pact nation to receive the Su-25, acquiring initial batches of both single-seat and trainer variants in 1985 to replace aging MiG-17Fs. By 2004, twenty single-seat and three trainers were active at Bezmer Air Base. As of 2021, only fourteen remained in service; eight underwent modernization in Belarus with plans for all to be upgraded eventually. In mid-2022, reports surfaced that some Bulgarian Su-25s had been transferred via intermediaries to Ukraine’s air force. By June 2022, three aircraft bearing Bulgarian markings were publicly visible. As of 2025, five single-seaters and one trainer remain operational.[3]
Template:CHA
  • Chadian Air Force – Between 2008 and 2010, Chad received six aircraft (four single-seat and two trainers) from Ukraine. An additional four were delivered in 2013.[4]
Template:Country data Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Air Force of the Democratic Republic of the Congo – Four brand-new Su-25s were delivered by Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing around 1999–2000 and saw combat during the Second Congo War until approximately 2003. One crashed during routine operations in December 2006 and another during an independence day display in June 2007. Two more aircraft arrived from Ukraine in 2013. Four remained operational as of 2021. In early 2023, one was damaged by a missile strike.[5]
Template:Country data Equatorial Guinea
  • The Equatorial Guinea Air Corps received four Su-25s—including two combat trainers—in 2005; these remained active as of 2021.[6]
Template:ETH
  • Ethiopian Air Force – Ethiopia ordered two single-seat Su-25Ts and two trainers in 1999, delivered in January 2000 after refurbishment from Russian stocks and redesignated as Su-25TK and Su-25UBK respectively. These aircraft participated in combat during the Eritrean-Ethiopian War but one was lost due to accident. They were withdrawn after one year but reactivated around 2010 following local overhaul efforts; they were publicly displayed again by 2013.[7]
Template:GEO
  • Georgian Air Force – Home to Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing which produced numerous single-seat Su-25s during Soviet times, Georgia inherited very few after independence since most remained at the factory. By 2004, its fleet included nine aircraft with eight being upgraded "Scorpion" variants developed jointly with Israel (Su-25KM). The fleet is undergoing modernization by Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing; as of 2021 four fully modernized planes equipped with advanced avionics had been completed. Ten aircraft were operational that year.[8]
Template:Country data Gambia
Template:IRQ
  • Iraqi Air Force – Early in the Iran–Iraq War, Iraq procured various military hardware from the Soviet Union including becoming the first non-Warsaw Pact operator of both single-seat and trainer Su-25 variants. It is estimated Iraq received seventy-three units including four trainers. By January 1998 twelve remained active; some appeared publicly over Baghdad in late 2002 but all were retired soon after the 2003 invasion. In mid-2014 Iraq signed agreements with Russia and Belarus for new acquisitions with initial deliveries arriving on June 28th that year; additionally thirteen jets arrived from Iran on July 1st including seven ex-Iraqi units from earlier conflicts.[10]
Template:KAZ
  • Kazakh Air Defense Forces – Received twelve single-seat and two trainer Su-25s in December 1995 as compensation for returning Tu-95MS strategic bombers that had been evacuated rapidly after USSR dissolution. These aircraft are based at Chimkent air base in southern Kazakhstan. Fourteen remained operational by 2021.[11]
Template:Country data Niger
  • Niger Air Force – Acquired two Su-25s from Ukraine in 2013 which remained active as of 2021.[12]
Template:PRK
  • North Korean Air Force – Building on experience operating Il‑10 ground attack aircraft since the Korean War era, North Korea procured thirty-two single-seat and four twin-seat Su‑25 variants between late 1987 and 1989. These are based at Sunchon Airport near Pyongyang within heavily fortified natural shelters featuring blast-resistant doors designed to withstand conventional or nuclear blasts.[13]
Template:PER
  • Peruvian Air Force – Peru took delivery of eighteen refurbished ex-Belarusian Su‑25s (ten single-seat and eight trainers) in late 1998 amid heightened tensions following the Cenepa War with Ecuador. These represented some of the last Soviet-built models before USSR collapse. Between then and December 2005, Peruvian forces reportedly downed over twenty-five light aircraft involved in cocaine trafficking using these jets. As of February 2013 only four were operational though all eighteen remained in service. A modernization program aimed at overhauling six single-seaters and four trainers commenced with first upgraded units delivered by 2018; by mid‑2022 a fifth upgraded aircraft was expected imminently.[14]
Template:RUS
  • Russian Aerospace Forces – Russia operates a diminished fleet primarily within assault aviation regiments featuring main variants such as single-seat Su‑25s, twin-seat UB trainers, and target-towing BM versions alongside limited numbers of anti-tank T models tested during Chechen conflicts. In total about two hundred eighty-six were active by 2008 with ongoing upgrades converting many into modernized SM variants since August 2001 delivery milestones aiming for over eighty conversions by around 2020. As of early 2020s nearly two hundred operated within Aerospace Forces plus a handful under Naval Aviation control.
  • Units include:
  • 18th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment under Eastern Military District
  • 368th Assault Aviation Regiment under Southern Military District
  • 899th Assault Aviation Regiment formerly under Moscow Military District (disbanded)
  • 960th Assault Aviation Regiment based at Primorsko-Akhtarsk
  • 999th Aviation Base located at Kant, Kyrgyzstan
  • Russian Naval Aviation operates an adapted carrier-capable variant named Su‑25UTG used for deck landing training aboard Admiral Kuznetsov.
  • The Wagner Private Military Company also employs this platform.[15]
Template:SUD
  • Sudanese Air Force – Acquired fourteen former Belarusian Su‑25s between 2008–2009 followed by an additional ten units obtained from Belarus in 2013.[16]
Template:TKM
  • Turkmen Air Force – After Soviet Union dissolution Turkmenistan inherited forty-six disassembled Su‑25s stored locally. Under a barter agreement signed with Georgia’s Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing in 1999 involving natural gas supplies, forty-five units were refurbished for Turkmen use mainly stationed at Ak‑Tepe air base where eighteen were operational by early-to-mid‑2000s; twenty remained active as of 2021.[17]
Template:UKR
  • Ukrainian Air Force – Post-independence Ukraine inherited ninety-two diverse model Su‑25s including trainers and carrier-capable UTGs mostly distributed among units like the independent assault regiments based at Kulbakino and Chortkiv air bases while about thirty were held in reserve storage facilities from which some were sold abroad such as those transferred to Macedonia. The carrier-capable UTGs were retired by mid‑2000s with one exchanged to Russia for standard trainers and another sold to China. Modernization efforts produced upgraded single-seaters designated M1 and two-seaters UBM1 starting deliveries circa 2010 but only fifteen out of roughly seventy jets remained flightworthy at Donbas war onset with several more restored shortly afterward. In early stages of ongoing conflict Bulgaria-sourced jets entered Ukrainian inventory indirectly via third parties totaling fourteen units by early-to-mid‑2022 bringing operational numbers to about thirty-one that year.
  • Units include:
  • 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade
  • Former operator:
  • Ukrainian Naval Aviation[18]
Template:UZB
  • Uzbekistan hosted a Soviet pilot training center operating approximately twenty variously configured Su‑25 types at Chirchik air base until independence when all remaining assets including those previously stationed at Dzhizak came under Uzbek control administered mainly by the former Soviet regiment based there. Twenty aircraft remained operational as per latest available reports.[19]

Potential operators

Template:MLI
  • Malian Air Force – Russia delivered at least one Su-25 in August 2022.[20][21] A Malian Su-25 was involved in a crash on 4 October 2022.[22]

Previous operators

File:Sukhoi Su-25K, 8077 van de Tsjechische luchtmacht 2193-006-082 0011.jpg
Czech Republic Su-25K in 1994.
Template:CZS
Template:CZE
  • Czech Air Force. Following the breakup of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic inherited twenty-four Su-25Ks and one Su-25UBK. The Czech Air Force retired these aircraft in December 2000.[24] During the early 2000s, twelve of these decommissioned Su-25s were sold to Georgia.[25]
Template:IRN
  • Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Air Force. On 21 January 1991, seven Iraqi Su-25s were flown to Iran seeking refuge from Operation Desert Storm airstrikes on Iraqi airbases. Iran regarded these aircraft as gifts from its former adversary and incorporated them into its military forces. However, due to shortages of spare parts, documentation, and pilot training, these jets were never operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. Iran has since added at least six new units to its fleet and probably restored some ex-Iraqi Su-25s to operational status.[26] Reports from July 2014 indicate that all IRGCAF Su-25s were sold to Iraq to enhance Iraqi capabilities in CAS and COIN operations against ISIS.[27]
Template:CIV
  • Air Force of Ivory Coast. In 2004, four aircraft including two trainers were acquired from Belarus[28]. In November that year, two Ivorian Su-25s bombed French forces in Bouaké, resulting in nine French soldiers killed and twenty-three wounded.[29] Subsequently, French troops destroyed the Su-25s on the ground at the airbase in Yamoussoukro.[30]
Template:MKD
  • North Macedonia Air Brigade. After facing incursions and attacks by Albanian insurgents during the 2001 Macedonia conflict, North Macedonia procured three single-seat Su-25s and one Su-25UB from Ukraine, which had retired them from its own air force.[31] These aircraft were withdrawn from service in 2004. In 2023, all four were transferred back to Ukraine as a donation from North Macedonia.[32]
Template:SVK
  • The Slovak Air Force came into possession of twelve Su-25Ks and one Su-25UBK following Czechoslovakia’s split. These jets were stationed at the Slovak 33rd Air Base located in Malacky-Kuchyna.[23] In 2004, ten Su-25Ks and one Su-25UBK were sold to Armenia.[33]
Template:USSR
  • Soviet Air Force. Aircraft were distributed among successor nations after the USSR's dissolution.

Evaluation-only operators

Template:CHN
  • In 2007, a single Su-25UTG equipped for carrier operations was acquired from Ukraine.[34]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named waf 2022 p12
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named waf 2022 p13
  3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named IISS212
  4. ↑ Delalande (2017)
  5. ↑ Parken (2023)
  6. ↑ Hoyle Flight International (2021)
  7. ↑ Mitzer & Oliemans (2021)
  8. ↑ Hoyle Flight International (2021)
  9. ↑ Flight International (2008)
  10. ↑ Haaretz (2014)
  11. ↑ Hoyle Flight International (2021)
  12. ↑ Delalande (2018)
  13. ↑ Gordon & Dawes (2004)
  14. ↑ Mejía (2022)
  15. ↑ BBC News Russian Service
  16. ↑ Mladenov (2015)
  17. ↑ Hoyle Flight International (2021)
  18. ↑ Oryx & Hoyle Flight International
  19. ↑ Hoyle Flight International (2021)
  20. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  21. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  22. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). 
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Operators22
  24. ↑ "Czech Su-25s.", Scramble (magazine). Retrieved 26 July 2011. Archived 10 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  26. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).. Jane's Defence Weekly, 13 September 2006.
  27. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  28. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Mladenov 2015 page=84
  29. ↑ "Nine French soldiers killed in Cote d'Ivoire." People's Daily Online, 8 November 2004.
  30. ↑ "France attacks Ivorian airbase." BBC News, 6 November 2004.
  31. ↑ Gordon and Dawes 2004, p. 99.
  32. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  33. ↑ Mladenov 2013, p. 30
  34. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named mladenov p32

Bibliography

  • Gordon, Yefim and Alan Dawes. Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot: Close Air Support Aircraft. London: Airlife, 2004. ISBN 1-84037-353-9.
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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