The record What this system is, where it comes from, who operates it and which of Vigil’s modules it is relevant to — with the evidence each of those rests on.
Record
Conflict relevance
This is the catalogue's single record for this system. It is relevant to the module below; each module's Force Atlas shows how it is used there.
Operators
United Nations / MINUSMA: Fielded by several troop-contributing contingents; the mission's standard mine-protected transport in the central and northern sectors.
Battlefield role
Mine-protected transport for MINUSMA contingents in what became the UN's deadliest environment: the IED-laced roads of central and northern Mali. The vehicle embodies the mission's defining fight — against the roadside bomb, not a front line.
Strengths
A V-shaped monocoque hull designed in the 1980s for exactly this threat: crews routinely survived mine and IED strikes that would have destroyed a flat-floored APC, which is why the type recurs in UN missions.
Limitations
High, heavy and slow off-road; protection is against blast from below, not against the large vehicle-borne bombs and complex ambushes MINUSMA faced from 2017. Its relevance to the module ended with the mission's withdrawal in 2023.
Visual identification
A tall, boxy four-wheeled vehicle with a sharply V-shaped underside, large rectangular side windows and a raised passenger compartment; often in UN white.
Documented conflict use
Documented in MINUSMA convoy and patrol use across the mission's life; IED strikes on Casspirs and similar vehicles appear throughout the Secretary-General's reports on Mali, which is the source for the mission's casualty record. Historical only.
Branch & service operators
- MINUSMA Historically associated
Related key events
Mali expels MINUSMA
At Bamako's demand, the Security Council ends MINUSMA's mandate in June 2023; the mission completes a compressed, contested withdrawal by 31 December, handing over or demolishing its northern camps.
Assessed as of — 2023-12 Last reviewed — 2026-09-28