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France: The two-seat strike variant, deployed from N'Djamena and Niamey for Serval and Barkhane; withdrawn from the Sahel with the end of Barkhane in 2022.
Battlefield role
The precision-strike arm of Serval and Barkhane, flying from regional bases against fixed and fleeting targets across the Sahel — air power the post-French order has replaced with armed drones rather than jets.
Strengths
A two-seat crew, terrain-following radar and laser-guided bombs: the ability to find and strike a moving column at night from a base a thousand kilometres away, which is what the January 2013 strikes on the jihadist advance required.
Limitations
Reach depended on tanker support and on basing in Chad and Niger, both of which the withdrawal removed; precision is bounded by target identification, and strikes attributed to French aircraft — Bounti in January 2021 most prominently — are part of the module's civilian-harm record. Historical only.
Visual identification
A single-engine tailless delta with a two-seat tandem cockpit and side intakes with shock cones; the two-seat canopy separates it from the single-seat 2000-5.
Documented conflict use
Flew the opening strikes of Serval on 11–13 January 2013 against the jihadist columns and depots in the north, and strike and armed reconnaissance sorties throughout Barkhane; the Bounti strike of 3 January 2021, attributed by the UN mission's investigation to French aircraft and disputed by France, is the most documented single sortie. Historical only.
Branch & service operators
- Operation Barkhane Historically associated
- 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.
France withdraws from Mali
President Macron announces the end of Barkhane operations in Mali in February; the last French soldier leaves Malian territory on 15 August 2022, nine years after Serval.
Assessed as of — 2022-08 Last reviewed — 2026-09-28