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
France: Flown by French Army light aviation in Serval's opening engagements; withdrawn from the Sahel with the end of Barkhane.
Battlefield role
Serval's light attack helicopter in the January 2013 counter-offensive — low-level gun and missile runs against advancing jihadist columns in the campaign's opening engagements, where France took its first loss of the intervention.
Strengths
Small, quick to deploy by transport aircraft and cheap to keep flying from austere strips; precise enough with the HOT missile and the 20 mm cannon to engage vehicles in the open, which is what the January 2013 engagements required.
Limitations
No armour and no defensive systems: the pilot killed on 11 January 2013 was hit by small-arms fire during a low-level attack, and the type was soon overshadowed by the Tigre for armed escort. Historical only.
Visual identification
A small, slim helicopter with a shrouded tail rotor set into the fin and a rounded glazed cabin; the fenestron tail is the identification.
Documented conflict use
Engaged the jihadist columns around Konna on 11 January 2013 in the opening hours of Serval; the French Ministry of the Armed Forces announced the loss of a pilot in that engagement, the intervention's first fatality. Historical only.
Branch & service operators
- Operation Serval Historically associated
Related key events
Launch of Operation Serval
After a jihadist column pushes south toward Sévaré and the road to Bamako, France intervenes at Mali's request with airstrikes and a rapid ground force.
Assessed as of — 2014-08 Last reviewed — 2026-09-28