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
Malian Armed Forces (FAMa): Acquired during the Soviet-aligned period under Moussa Traoré; airframes survive at Bamako-Sénou as non-flying stock.
Battlefield role
Context rather than capability: Mali's Cold War fighter fleet marks the first Soviet alignment, which the current Russian partnership consciously echoes. The airframes themselves have been inoperable for decades.
Strengths
Historically, a cheap supersonic interceptor that a small air force could acquire with Soviet credit and training — which is exactly the transaction the 2021–2022 Russian packages repeated with different aircraft.
Limitations
Inoperable since the 2000s: no spares, no trained pilots and no mission in a war against insurgents on motorcycles. Its only relevance to the module is the lineage it documents.
Visual identification
A small delta-wing fighter with a nose intake and a central shock cone; the surviving Malian airframes are static.
Documented conflict use
No employment in the current conflict; documented only as the Soviet-era inventory of the Malian Air Force, as recorded in the historical literature and in reference inventories that list it as non-operational.
Branch & service operators
- Malian Air Force (Armée de l’Air) Historically associated
Assessed as of — 2026-01 Last reviewed — 2026-09-28