Exhibit A · Section 3

The flight computer that took off in Ethiopia

The single most decisive item of evidence is a flight computer. It records, in its own memory, where the drone that carried it took off. That place is in Ethiopia.

Recovery

On 20 September 2026 the Sudanese Armed Forces brought down a long-range, fixed-wing one-way attack drone at Ad-Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile State. The aircraft has a wingspan of 5.3 m and a fuselage length of 3.2 m, is powered by a petrol engine, carries a 35 kg explosive warhead, is fitted with an anti-jamming module and has a range of about 1,000 km. Its autopilot, the flight-control computer that stores and executes the pre-programmed mission, was recovered from the wreckage and its memory extracted by Sudanese specialists.

The long-range attack drone airframe lying in a field at Ad-Damazin The recovered autopilot flight-control computer
Figure 2. The airframe as it came down at Ad-Damazin, 20 September 2026 (left), and the recovered autopilot (right).

What the memory contains

The autopilot holds a complete mission of twelve items, written in the standard MAVLink mission format used by open-architecture flight controllers. The mission defines a take-off, a climb, a cruise at 1,400 m, a programmed servo command and a terminal descent onto a target in the Ad-Damazin area.

Table 1. The mission stored in the recovered autopilot.
ItemCommandCoordinatesAltitudeFunction
0NAV_WAYPOINT (home)-0 mReference position set before launch
1NAV_TAKEOFF10.7219975° N, 34.7662300° E80 mTake-off, on Ethiopian territory; climb at an initial 8° pitch
2NAV_WAYPOINT10.7343203° N, 34.7437477° E300 mSteep climb, still over Ethiopian territory
3DO_MOUNT_CONTROL-300 mCamera gimbal set: roll −180°, pitch and yaw 0°
4NAV_WAYPOINT10.8584266° N, 34.7004890° E1,400 mMain climb completed, now over Sudan
5NAV_WAYPOINT11.0685813° N, 34.5410156° E1,400 mCruise
6NAV_WAYPOINT11.2928944° N, 34.3988800° E1,400 mCruise
7DO_SET_SERVO-1,400 mServo channel 7 actuated (PWM 2000): payload or device activation
8NAV_WAYPOINT11.4726226° N, 34.2982864° E1,400 mCruise
9NAV_WAYPOINT11.6295388° N, 34.2193222° E1,400 mNorth-western turning point
10NAV_WAYPOINT11.6938019° N, 34.2709494° E1,188 mDescent begins towards the target
11NAV_LAND11.7352399° N, 34.3167910° E488 mTerminal approach on the target

Geolocation of the take-off point

The drone took off from Ethiopian territory. This conclusion rests on clear and mutually confirming evidence, and admits no other reading.

The take-off coordinates, 10.7219975° N, 34.7662300° E, lie near the Ethiopian locality of Gizen, opposite the Sudanese district of Geissan. Their location on the Ethiopian side of the boundary is established by three independent means:

  1. The aircraft's own record. The coordinates are not an estimate or a reconstruction. They are the take-off position written into the mission stored in the drone's flight-control computer, recovered from the wreckage at Ad-Damazin.
  2. Satellite geolocation. Plotted on satellite imagery, the coordinates place the take-off point on the Ethiopian side of the boundary, beside Gizen (Figure 4).
  3. Measurement against two boundary datasets. The Government of Sudan measured the coordinates against the administrative boundary of Sudan maintained for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and against the national boundary of Ethiopia.11 Both datasets agree: the take-off point lies 1.7 km inside Ethiopia and 1.8 km beyond the boundary of Sudan.

The conclusion does not rest on a single point. The take-off, the climb to the second waypoint at 300 m, itself between 2.3 and 3.4 km inside Ethiopia, and the first ten kilometres of the programmed route all lie over Ethiopian territory; the drone was programmed to enter Sudanese airspace only about ten kilometres after take-off. The launch site lies 65 km from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, in one of the most closely guarded security zones in Ethiopia.

Explore the route on the interactive map

Map of the recovered flight plan on the Sudan–Ethiopia border, showing the launch point near Gizen inside Ethiopia and the route to Ad-Damazin
Figure 3. The recovered flight plan plotted on the Sudan–Ethiopia border. The take-off point (WP1) and the first climb waypoint (WP2) lie inside Ethiopia. The map also shows Asosa Airport, the Menge camp and the Ethiopian Kurmuk launch sector with its 30 km reach.
Satellite image with the take-off point marked near Gizen, Ethiopia Satellite image of the full route from take-off to target
Figure 4. Original geolocation on satellite imagery: the take-off point near Gizen, Ethiopia (left) and the full route from take-off to target (right).

Integrity of the data

A fabricated or corrupted flight plan would betray itself. This one does not. Three independent checks confirm its integrity:

  • Route length. Summing the great-circle distances between the nine positional waypoints gives 134.04 km, identical, to the hundredth of a kilometre, to the figure reported.
  • Flight profile. The altitudes form a coherent operational profile: a climb to 300 m, a climb to a 1,400 m cruise, and a staged descent onto the target. The commands are correctly sequenced.
  • Geography. Every waypoint after the border crossing lies inside Sudan along a direct corridor to Ad-Damazin; the target point lies in the Ad-Damazin area, where the aircraft was brought down.
Chain of evidence: wreckage, flight computer, mission file, take-off point, geolocation, leading to the verdict that the drone was launched from Ethiopian sovereign territory
Figure 5. Chain of evidence from wreckage to verdict, with the three integrity checks performed by the Government of Sudan.
Programmed altitude profile: take-off at 80 m, climb to 300 m, cruise at 1,400 m, descent to 488 m on target; the first ten kilometres over Ethiopian airspace
Figure 6. Programmed altitude profile of the recovered mission. The first ten kilometres of the flight were planned over Ethiopian territory.

Finding A

The drone that attacked Ad-Damazin on 20 September 2026 was launched from Ethiopian territory. Its pre-programmed mission records a take-off point 1.7 km inside Ethiopia; satellite geolocation and two independent boundary datasets confirm it. Its operators stood on Ethiopian soil, 65 km from the GERD, in a zone under the full control of the Ethiopian security forces. This is not inference. It is the aircraft's own record, confirmed.