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: Deployed with the mechanised infantry of Serval from January 2013 and with Barkhane's desert convoys until the withdrawal.
Battlefield role
The heaviest armour France deployed in the Sahel: wheeled infantry fighting vehicles escorting the long desert convoys of Serval and Barkhane, their 25mm cannon the intervention's principal direct-fire overmatch.
Strengths
Wheeled mobility over the road distances of the Sahel, a stabilised 25 mm cannon and thermal sights that outmatched anything the jihadist columns carried, and better mine protection than the VAB it accompanied.
Limitations
A heavy vehicle in soft sand and on weak bridges, expensive to sustain at the end of a very long supply line, and more vehicle than most Barkhane patrols needed. Its relevance to the module is historical — it left with the French withdrawal in 2022.
Visual identification
A large eight-wheeled vehicle with a tall, boxy hull and a one-man turret mounting a long 25 mm cannon; visibly bigger and higher than the VAB.
Documented conflict use
Documented in the Serval advance of early 2013, including the fighting around Gao and in the Adrar des Ifoghas, and in Barkhane's convoy operations in the Liptako-Gourma through 2022. Historical only.
Branch & service operators
- Operation Barkhane Historically associated
Assessed as of — 2022-08 Last reviewed — 2026-09-28