Leaked internal documents have revealed a years-long Israeli program to develop Uganda’s drone capabilities, as Kampala prepares to deploy troops to the Gaza Strip as part of a proposed international force aimed at “stabilizing” the territory.
اضافة اعلان
According to an investigation published by Drop Site News, Israeli defense company Elbit Systems supplied the Ugandan military with drones and advanced surveillance and intelligence systems, while also helping establish infrastructure to operate the aircraft and conduct military operations.
The revelations come as Uganda’s parliament voted last month to approve the deployment of Ugandan forces to Gaza as part of an international force proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump through what is known as the “Board of Peace.”
Ugandan Defense Minister Cryiawa Kwanuka told a parliamentary session discussing the deployment that “the President of the Republic of Uganda is prepared to deploy forces to the Gaza Strip,” adding that a formal agreement on the status of the troops would be negotiated after parliamentary approval.
The Ugandan government has yet to provide a clear explanation for why it volunteered to participate in the mission, what role its forces would play, or what Kampala expects in return. During the parliamentary debate, opposition lawmaker Hassan Kiromera reportedly asked: “Which side will our army fight on?”
Growing Military Cooperation
The investigation links Uganda’s decision to deploy troops to Gaza to its expanding security and military ties with Israel, including a defense cooperation agreement signed by the two countries in 2022.
Drop Site News based its investigation on an archive of emails and documents hacked from Elbit Systems accounts belonging to Vered Haimovich, a former Israeli military officer who became deputy head of the company’s unmanned aircraft systems division in January 2021.
The archive was published by the Distributed Denial of Secrets organization after being leaked by the hacking group Handala. The website said it conducted cryptographic verification of emails contained in the archive, as well as verification of materials that were not publicly available.
Elbit Systems declined to comment on the nature of its work with its customers. A company spokesperson said the materials cited in the report “do not accurately reflect the company’s commercial activities.” The Ugandan government did not respond to the website’s questions.
Uganda’s possession of the Israeli Hermes 900 drone became publicly known in February 2022, after Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the current chief of the armed forces, posted footage showing Ugandan soldiers inside an aircraft hangar standing in front of the drone.
At the time, military affairs magazine Janes identified the aircraft as a Hermes 900, describing it as a previously undocumented Ugandan capability supplied by Israel.
Later reports indicated that Uganda operated at least 24 aircraft of the type, although no evidence or documented information was provided to confirm the number. In August 2024, a drone bearing Ugandan markings crashed in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a report by a United Nations panel of experts identified it as a Hermes 900.
Multi-Million-Dollar Contracts
The documents reviewed by the website indicate that cooperation between Elbit and Kampala went beyond the sale of drones, encompassing the construction of an integrated surveillance and intelligence system and the development of bases for operating unmanned aircraft.
A document dated September 2021 shows an offer worth $16.1 million covering two new Hermes 900 drones, maintenance work for an existing Ugandan Hermes 450, ground control systems, training, technical support and spare parts, bringing the total value of the package to approximately $18.4 million.
Other documents show that Uganda’s drone program began in January 2019 with the provision of a refurbished Hermes 450, followed by two refurbished aircraft in 2020 and 2021.
Under a subsequent agreement to settle disputes related to three earlier contracts, Elbit was to provide Uganda with a refurbished Hermes 450 and two new Hermes 900s, in addition to two new Hermes 450s, as well as upgrades to the fleet’s control and communications systems.
In March 2024, a $52.1 million contract was signed to supply Uganda with four Hermes 900 drones equipped with the SkEye wide-area surveillance system, along with ground surveillance systems.
According to the document, Uganda had transferred $14.2 million to Elbit in 2021, with that amount to be credited toward the value of the expanded deal.
The documents also indicate that equipment supplied to Uganda included the AES-210 electronic intelligence system, as well as SkyStriker, an Israeli loitering munition, commonly described as a suicide drone, designed to search for and attack targets by striking them.
DeepSight Limited was the direct purchaser under a 2024 contract, while the agreement identified the Ugandan government, military intelligence and the special forces command as the ultimate end users.
Advanced Attack and Surveillance Capabilities
According to the investigation, the documents also show that the cooperation included advanced equipment capable of continuously monitoring wide areas, intercepting communications and producing radar imagery at night and in cloudy conditions.
One of Elbit’s internal proposals also indicates that the company was prepared to provide Uganda with additional offensive capabilities.
In a presentation made by the company’s management in January 2022, a section dedicated to Uganda stated that the company was preparing to conduct “munition-dropping operations,” including the Lizard 3 system, a laser-guidance system marketed by Elbit to convert conventional bombs into precision-guided weapons.
Other documents reveal that the company assisted in developing ground bases for operating Hermes 900 drones, including automated takeoff and landing systems, spare parts and logistical support.
The documents indicate that expansion plans also included spending approximately $2.3 million on spare parts for Hermes 900 drones, in addition to future maintenance contracts for the fleet.
Operational Problems
At the same time, internal correspondence reveals operational problems encountered in the use of Israeli equipment in Uganda.
In an email accompanying a 2021 agreement, a representative of Yamasec Ltd., a Ugandan aviation and security company, informed Elbit officials that a ground-control trailer for one of the Hermes 900 drones had been flooded, bringing operations to a halt.
Nevertheless, Yamasec proposed additional deals to purchase equipment from Elbit, including connecting the entire drone fleet to a proposed intelligence center capable of processing and analyzing information collected by the aircraft and turning it into intelligence usable for operational purposes.
The correspondence does not clarify whether all of the required systems and infrastructure were ultimately delivered.
Yamasec’s role in the program also raises additional questions. The organization Conflict Armament Research had previously accused the company of transferring military equipment that was supposed to be used by the Ugandan military as the end user to the government of South Sudan.
A 2018 report by the organization concluded that a group of companies linked to Israeli, Ugandan, British and American nationals and based in Uganda had obtained aircraft for Uganda, before one of those companies, Yamasec, supplied them to forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, along with training and crews.
Ugandan Forces in Gaza and Museveni’s Ties to Israel
The expansion of Uganda’s military role in the region and its growing ties with Israeli defense companies come amid criticism of the record of some Ugandan security agencies that were among the beneficiaries of Israeli equipment.
In December 2021, the United States imposed sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act on Abel Kandiho, who was then commander of Uganda’s military intelligence service, one of the agencies identified in available contracts as an end user of Elbit equipment.
The U.S. Treasury Department said when the sanctions were imposed that Kandiho and military intelligence officials had arrested, detained and physically tortured Ugandans because of their political views, nationality or criticism of the government, citing beatings, sexual assault and electrocution during interrogations.
Uganda’s Special Forces Command, which also appears as an end user of the Israeli equipment, is considered one of the country’s most politically sensitive security agencies and is closely associated with protecting President Museveni and his family. His son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, led the force before taking command of the entire military.
The strengthening of military cooperation has coincided with growing political rapprochement between Uganda’s leadership and Israel.
In recent months, Kainerugaba has repeatedly expressed support for Israel, at one point going as far as threatening to intervene on its side against its adversaries.
In a social media post last March, following the outbreak of the Israeli-American war on Iran, he wrote: “We want the war in the Middle East to end now. The world is tired of it,” adding that “any talk of destroying or defeating Israel will draw us into the war, alongside Israel.”
A Long Legacy of Cooperation
Military relations between Israel and Uganda date back to the early years of the African country’s independence in 1962, when Israel helped train and equip the Ugandan army.
Idi Amin, who later became the country’s military ruler, also received military training in Israel and maintained close ties with Israeli advisers.
After Amin seized power in a 1971 coup, Israel initially supported his government before he severed relations with Israel in 1972 after it refused to provide him with Phantom fighter jets for use in a potential conflict with Tanzania. Amin later turned to Libya for military and financial support and adopted a pro-Palestinian stance.
Relations between Israel and Uganda reached their lowest point during the 1976 hostage crisis at Entebbe Airport, before President Yoweri Museveni restored diplomatic relations with Israel in 1994.
Since then, security, intelligence and military ties between the two sides have deepened, culminating in the signing of a new defense cooperation agreement in 2022.
Just days before Uganda’s parliament voted on August 6 to send troops to Gaza, Kainerugaba unveiled a memorial at Entebbe Airport honoring Yonatan Netanyahu, the brother of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was killed during the 1976 hostage-rescue operation at the airport.
In a post that was later deleted, Kainerugaba said the idea for the memorial came, according to him, after “dreams and visions” in which Christ told him to build a monument to Yonatan Netanyahu at Entebbe “and not be afraid of the world.”
During the unveiling ceremony, Kainerugaba praised the growing relationship between Kampala and Tel Aviv, saying memorials are “more than just stone and bronze,” as they preserve memory, teach history and inspire future generations.
The investigation concludes that Elbit’s support for Uganda’s Special Forces and its role in strengthening security capabilities linked to the Museveni family provide context for the Ugandan leadership’s growing support for Israel, which could soon take a military form through the deployment of Ugandan forces to the Gaza Strip.
Source: Al Ghad / Agencies
