The Malian Armed Forces consists of the Army, Republic of Mali Air Force, and National Guard. They number some 7,000 and are under the control of the Minister of Armed Forces and Veterans. The Library of Congress as of January 2005 stated that "[t]he military is underpaid, poorly equipped, and in need of rationalization. Its organisation has suffered from the incorporation of Tuareg irregular forces into the regular military following a 1992 agreement between the government and Tuareg rebel forces."
The Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé or VAB is a French armoured personnel carrier and support vehicle designed and manufactured by Renault Trucks Defense. It entered French service in 1979 and around 5,000 were produced for the French Army as well as for export. It has seen combat in various conflicts in Africa, Asia as well as Europe and has also been exported to more than 15 countries.
The MATADOR is a 90-millimetre (3.5 in) man-portable, disposable anti-armour and anti-brickwall weapon system developed by Germany, Israel and Singapore. It is an updated version of the German Armbrust design, and operates on the same principles. The development of this weapon began in 2000 and the MATADOR will eventually replace the German Armbrust Light Anti-tank Weapon, which has been in service since the 1980s.
ACMAT is a French manufacturer of cross-country and tactical military vehicles since 1958. Known for their reliability, simplicity, ruggedness and their 80% commonality of parts across the entire product line, these vehicles were originally targeted at African and Asian countries who could not afford more expensive vehicles. The ACMAT company built their vehicles based on standardisation, commonality of parts and components, and on interchangeability; parts are interchangeable with vehicles built 30 years ago. Parts commonality includes cabs, structural components, engines and drive trains. ACMAT uses many of the same parts for all of its line of vehicles. They even produce an armoured variant of both the 4x4 and 6x6 versions of the VLRA.
The Sherpa Light is a family of 4x4 tactical and light armored vehicles developed by French company Renault Trucks Defense (RTD). Available in unarmoured or armoured variants, the Scout is suited for tactical missions such as scouting, patrol, convoy escort and command and liaison. It is able to transport up to 4 or 5 soldiers or a total payload of up to 4 tonnes.
The WZ-551 is a Chinese wheeled infantry fighting vehicle family. The name WZ-551 actually covers two families of vehicles with the official designations in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) – Type 90 and Type 92. Over 3,000 WZ-551s are in service with the PLA, where they are used by medium mechanized infantry units.
The Zastava M84 is a general-purpose machine gun manufactured by Zastava Arms. It is a gas-operated, air-cooled, belt-fed and fully automatic shoulder-fired weapon.
The Cobra is a family of armoured tactical vehicle developed by Turkish firm Otokar. It is produced in two generations. The first generation has some subsystems from the Humvee.
The Berliet VXB-170 is a four-wheel armoured vehicle used primarily as an internal security vehicle. Developed and initially produced by Berliet until Berliet was merged with Saviem to form Renault Trucks, it lost to the Saviem VAB the competition to equip the French Army, even though it was cheaper than its competitor. Production stopped after fewer than 200 vehicles had been produced.
The Aravis is an infantry mobility vehicle developed and built by French company Nexter. An order for 15 Aravis vehicles was placed by the Délégation Générale pour l'Armement in April 2009 for use by the French Army as a reconnaissance and escort vehicle for engineer units. Deliveries for the initial order began in January 2010.
The Puma M26-15 4x4 is an armored personnel carrier (APC) with mine and improvised explosive device (IED) protection. The main users are military, police and security companies during peacekeeping operations. The Puma M26 was designed by OTT Technologies, a South African firm linked to DynCorp International. It is manufactured in South Africa and Mozambique.
The Chadian Ground Forces are the main and largest component of the Chadian National Army. Historically Chad has had one of the strongest armies in the Sahara region, larger than the Malian or Central African army, with a total of 25,000 to 30,000 troops. Chad has been involved as part of the Multinational Joint Task Force in fighting the Boko Haram insurgency, deploying troops to Niger and Mali. Another common role of the Chadian Army has been quelling rebellions against the central government of Chad.
Operation Barkhane was a counterinsurgency operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region and consisted of a roughly 3,000-strong French force, which was permanently headquartered in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. The operation was led in co-operation with five countries, all of which are former French colonies that span the Sahel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Mali was a part of the operation until August 2022. The countries are collectively referred to as the "G5 Sahel". The operation was named after a crescent-shaped dune type that is common in the Sahara desert.
The K808/806 White Tiger wheeled armored personnel carrier (APC) is family of 8x8 and 6x6 armored vehicles. Developed by Hyundai Rotem as a private venture in 2012, the Korean Army declared a plan to acquire 600 6×6 and 8×8 wheeled APCs in order to help build rapid response forces molded after U.S. Stryker combat brigades, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
RAM MK3 is a light armored vehicle designed by IAI RAMTA. It is based on a 4×4 wheeled monocoque chassis.
On 14 April 2018, militants attacked the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) base in Timbuktu Airport, known informally as the "super camp". The JNIM later claimed responsibility for the attack, in reprisal for the deaths of some of their commanders in clashes that occurred about a week earlier.
The ACMAT AVTL is a military truck manufactured by the French company ACMAT, now part of Arquus.
The Type 07P is a Chinese infantry fighting vehicle manufactured by Poly Technologies.
The ACMAT VLRA, a tactical vehicle produced by ACMAT, was launched during 1967, it was characterised by its robustness. It could transport 2.5 tonnes of payload, a maximum range of 1,600 km and a water tank with a capacity of 200lt. Known for their reliability, simplicity, ruggedness and their 80% commonality of parts across the entire product line, these vehicles were originally targeted at African and Asian countries who could not afford more expensive vehicles. The ACMAT company built their vehicles based on standardisation, commonality of parts and components, and on interchangeability; parts are interchangeable with vehicles built 30 years ago. Parts commonality includes cabs, structural components, engines and drive trains. ACMAT uses many of the same parts for all of its line of vehicles. They even produce an armoured variant of both the 4x4 and 6x6 versions of the VLRA.
