Russian stealth jets have arrived in North Africa, as filmed by Algerian potato farmer

BERLIN — A new video snapped by a potato farmer appears to confirm that Algeria is the first country to have received the fifth-generation Su-57 stealth fighter jet from Russia.

The online video shows the distinctive silhouette of Russia’s most modern fighter jet against a blue sky over a landscape with spread-out hills consistent with northern Algeria. It appears to have originated from the Arabic-language TikTok user doz.kbran , whose public profile also features Algerian soccer clips and cityscapes.

The video was reportedly recorded near Oum El Bouaghi Air Base, located by the town of Ain Beida. The landscape and terrain surrounding the base are consistent with those visible in the recording.

The government in Algiers became interested in purchasing the stealth fighter following a visit to the 2019 MAKS air show in Moscow, where the Su-57E export variant was first unveiled.

In October 2025, a cyberattack by the hacker collective Black Mirror leaked documents from Russia’s state-owned Rostec corporation that suggested Algeria had indeed placed an order for 12 Su-57 aircraft. The document also indicated an Algerian order for 14 fighter-bombers Su-34.

The leaked spreadsheet carried the branding of AO Kret, an avionics company that supplies the electronics for both aircraft to Sukhoi. The avionics packages for the Su-57 were listed at around $200 million for twelve aircraft.

The total price for the Algerian Su-57 order was widely reported in Russian-language aviation media as around $2 billion for 14 aircraft. Russia’s state-owned Sputnik news site received confirmation of the deal from Algerian sources in late 2020 ( archived here ), though details about the eventual order volume – 12 copies or 14 – and cost remain murky.

In November 2025, Russia confirmed that two Su-57 fighters had already been delivered to an unnamed foreign customer, presumably Algeria.

Algeria is the first country aside from Russia to operate the Su-57. It is a significant arms sale for Russia, which has scrambled to maintain an important revenue stream despite a downturn in business caused by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Authoritarian countries, and particularly those in Africa and the Middle East, have been singled out as reliable buyers by the Kremlin, in part because of their intransigence in the face of Western condemnation of Russia.

“This arms deal is one of the issues the United States considers problematic” in relations with Algeria, said Robert Palladino, head of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, speaking before a Senate committee last week. He said such purchases “may trigger” sanctions based on Washington’s Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA.

The presence of the top-end fighter jet in Algeria is part of a broader modernization program for the country’s air force and could shift the regional balance of power in favor of Russia’s ally. Algeria and its western neighbor Morocco have a longstanding row that presents one of North Africa’s most significant disputes.

An upset in the military balance on NATO’s southern flank has the potential to spur a regional arms race or reignite hostilities along the border, which has remained closed since 1994.

In November 2024, Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita delivered a stark warning saying that Algeria is seeking “escalation” and there are “signs that demonstrate Algeria’s will to start a war in the region and a military confrontation with Morocco.”

Algeria has called the accusations “projection” and dismissed them as unfounded provocations.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

柏林——一位土豆种植户拍摄的一段新视频似乎证实，阿尔及利亚是第一个从俄罗斯接收第五代苏-57隐形战斗机的国家。

这段网络视频展示了俄罗斯最先进的战斗机的轮廓，背景是蓝天白云，远处是连绵起伏的山丘，与阿尔及利亚北部的地貌特征相符。视频似乎来自一位名叫 doz.kbran 的阿拉伯语 TikTok 用户，他的公开主页上还发布了一些阿尔及利亚足球比赛片段和城市景观照片。

据报道，这段视频是在艾因贝达镇附近的乌姆布瓦吉空军基地附近拍摄的。基地周围的景观和地形与视频中显示的景象相符。

阿尔及尔政府在参观了 2019 年莫斯科国际航空航天展览会 (MAKS) 后，对购买这款隐形战斗机产生了兴趣。苏-57E 出口型战斗机正是在这次展览会上首次亮相。

2025年10月，黑客组织“黑镜”（Black Mirror）发动网络攻击，泄露了俄罗斯国有企业俄罗斯技术集团（Rostec）的文件，文件显示阿尔及利亚确实订购了12架苏-57战斗机。该文件还表明，阿尔及利亚订购了14架苏-34战斗轰炸机。

泄露的电子表格上印有AO Kret公司的标志，该公司是一家为苏霍伊公司供应两款战机电子设备的航空电子设备供应商。苏-57战机的航空电子设备总价约为2亿美元，共计12架。

据俄语航空媒体广泛报道，阿尔及利亚订购14架苏-57战斗机的总价约为20亿美元。俄罗斯官方通讯社卫星通讯社于2020年底从阿尔及利亚方面证实了这笔交易（存档链接在此），但最终的订单数量（12架还是14架）和总价等细节仍不明朗。

2025 年 11 月，俄罗斯证实已向一位未透露姓名的外国客户（据推测是阿尔及利亚）交付了两架苏-57 战斗机。

阿尔及利亚是除俄罗斯之外首个装备苏-57战斗机的国家。对于俄罗斯而言，这是一笔意义重大的军售。尽管莫斯科入侵乌克兰导致经济下滑，俄罗斯仍在努力维持重要的收入来源。克里姆林宫特别指出，专制国家，尤其是非洲和中东国家，是可靠的买家，部分原因是这些国家面对西方对俄罗斯的谴责毫不妥协。

美国国务院近东事务局局长罗伯特·帕拉迪诺上周在参议院委员会作证时表示，“这笔军售是美国认为与阿尔及利亚关系中存在问题的问题之一”。他指出，此类军购“可能触发”基于华盛顿《以制裁反击美国敌人法案》（CAATSA）的制裁。

这款顶级战斗机出现在阿尔及利亚是该国空军更广泛现代化计划的一部分，可能会改变地区力量平衡，使之向俄罗斯的盟友倾斜。阿尔及利亚与其西部邻国摩洛哥之间存在长期争端，这是北非最重大的争端之一。

北约南翼军事平衡的打破有可能引发区域军备竞赛，或重新点燃自 1994 年以来一直封闭的边境沿线的敌对行动。

2024 年 11 月，摩洛哥外交大臣纳赛尔·布里塔发出严厉警告，称阿尔及利亚正在寻求“局势升级”，并且有“迹象表明阿尔及利亚有意在该地区发动战争，并与摩洛哥发生军事对抗”。

阿尔及利亚称这些指控是“投射”，并驳斥其为毫无根据的挑衅。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。