Borrowed civil aircraft flew liaison and support for the army; this is where the official history starts Malian military flying.

Mali had no air arm when a rebellion broke out in the north in 1963. According to the armed forces’ own history, General Abdoulaye Soumaré asked for aviation support and the government requisitioned two An-2s and an L-200A Morava from the national airline, Air Mali. That improvised flight is the root of the service: military aviation was formally created on 1 March 1966. What the aircraft did in detail, and how many sorties they flew, is not recorded in the sources checked.

Výsledek The rebellion was put down by 1964.

The end date of the rebellion is from general histories, not from the air force source; the aircraft’s operations are not documented.

Létání pro

Malian Army with requisitioned civil aircraft

Kde

Northern Mali (Adrar des Ifoghas)

Vedle

Žádné spojenecké letectvo

Proti

Tuareg rebels

Letadlo

Antonov An-2, Let L-200A Morava

Zdroje

FAMa

Border patrols from 20 December, then bombing raids on Burkinabé towns from 25 December.

The dispute over the Agacher Strip had already produced a brief armed conflict in 1974. On 20 December 1985 Malian MiG-21s and helicopters began patrolling the border, and at dawn on Christmas Day Mali attacked. At about 08:45 two Malian MiG-21s bombed Djibo, Ouahigouya and Nassoumbo; on 28 December Malian sorties struck Djibo, Ouahigouya, Tougan and Dédougou. Burkina Faso had a single MiG-17 and hit back at Sikasso on 26 December. The two air forces never met in the air. The account rests on Tom Cooper’s ACIG study as summarised by Wikipedia; neither government has published an air war record. It remains Mali’s only interstate air war.

Výsledek Ceasefire at the end of December 1985; the International Court of Justice divided the strip on 22 December 1986.

Civilian casualties of the Malian raids are not given here because no figure could be corroborated. Whether aircraft flew in the 1974 clash was not confirmed.

Létání pro

Malijské letectvo

Kde

Agacher Strip and northern Burkina Faso

Vedle

Žádné spojenecké letectvo

Proti

Burkina Faso

Letadlo

MiG-21, Vrtulníky

Ztráty

No air-to-air combat took place; Burkina Faso’s retaliatory raid on Sikasso on 26 December killed four Malians, per Wikipedia.

Zdroje

Wikipedie · Wikipedie

A handful of helicopters, partly crewed by Ukrainian contract pilots, supported garrisons until the northern bases fell.

The air force entered 2012 almost without fighters: English Wikipedia says only one MiG-21MF and one MiG-21UM were airworthy in January, and both were soon grounded. The work fell to a few Mi-24 helicopters, some crewed by Ukrainian contract pilots; by mid-March one had broken down and the other two were being kept to protect the south. The MNLA took Tessalit and its airport on 11 March. On 22 March soldiers led by Captain Amadou Sanogo overthrew President Amadou Toumani Touré, and in the confusion Kidal fell on 30 March, Gao on 31 March and Timbuktu on 1 April. When jihadist groups advanced south in January 2013, it was French Mirage 2000Ds and Gazelle helicopters of Operation Serval, not Malian aircraft, that stopped them.

Výsledek Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu fell between 30 March and 1 April 2012; the north was retaken from January 2013 under French Operation Serval.

Malian air operations of 2012 are thinly documented; figures here are Wikipedia’s.

Létání pro

Malijské letectvo

Kde

Northern Mali

Vedle

France (from January 2013)

Proti

MNLA, Ansar Dine, AQIM and MUJAO

Letadlo

Mi-24D, MiG-21 (grounded)

Ztráty

One of three helicopters with Ukrainian crews had broken down by March 2012, per Wikipedia. Aircraft left at northern airfields were not counted in the sources checked.

Zdroje

Wikipedie · Wikipedie · Wikipedie

Close air support, helicopter assault and armed-drone strikes against JNIM, Islamic State Sahel and the northern separatist coalition.

After the coups of August 2020 and May 2021 the military government rebuilt the air force with Russian and Turkish equipment and Russian contractors. Its record includes the operation at Moura from 27 March 2022: the UN human rights office found that more than 500 people were killed, the vast majority summarily executed, while a military helicopter fired on people and four others landed troops, with armed foreign personnel operating alongside Malian forces. The government said 203 ‘terrorists’ were killed and denies wrongdoing. Human Rights Watch documented drone strikes that killed seven civilians at a wedding and burial at Konokassi on 16–17 February 2024 and seven, five of them children, at Tinzaouaten on 25 August 2024; the army said it had struck armed fighters and did not answer HRW. Since June 2025 the Russian Africa Corps flies its own Su-24s; HRW attributes a strike that killed eight civilians at Kyrnia on 15 June 2026 to it.

Výsledek Pokračující.

Casualty figures are each source’s: the UN and HRW findings are disputed by the Malian government; strike counts are not published.

Létání pro

Malijské letectvo

Kde

Central and northern Mali

Vedle

Wagner Group (to June 2025), Russian Africa Corps and Burkina Faso and Niger (AES)

Proti

JNIM, Islamic State Sahel Province and CSP-DPA / FLA

Letadlo

L-39C, Su-25, Mi-24P/Mi-35M, Mi-8/Mi-17, Bayraktar TB2, Akinci

Ztráty

Military Africa counts at least 13 modern manned and unmanned aircraft destroyed since 2023: four Mi-24P, one Akinci, more than four transport helicopters and at least two Su-25 (July 2026).

Zdroje

Úřad vysokého komisaře pro lidská práva (OHCHR) · Wikipedie · Human Rights Watch · Human Rights Watch · Human Rights Watch · Vojenská Afrika · Wikipedie · Wikipedie · Human Rights Watch

Helicopter support to a FAMa and Wagner column, then drone and air strikes on the town on 31 July and 25 August.

On 25–27 July 2024 a Malian and Wagner column was ambushed near Tinzaouaten by the separatist CSP-DPA, with JNIM also claiming a part that the CSP disputes. The army acknowledged ‘significant losses’ without figures; Russian sources put Wagner’s dead between about 20 and more than 80. A Mi-24 was lost. On 31 July Malian and Burkinabé aircraft struck the area; the CSP said a Burkinabé drone killed more than 50 gold miners, a claim not independently verified. On 25 August drones struck the town again: the separatists said 21 civilians including 11 children were killed; Human Rights Watch documented seven civilians killed, five of them children aged 14 to 16, while the armed forces said the same day that they had hit fighters, vehicles and equipment.

Výsledek Defeat for the FAMa and Wagner column; Tinzaouaten stayed in rebel hands.

All casualty figures are claims of the party named or HRW findings; none are confirmed by the Malian government.

Létání pro

Malijské letectvo

Kde

Kidal region, on the Algerian border

Vedle

Wagner Group and Burkina Faso (strikes of 31 July)

Proti

CSP-DPA and JNIM (disputed)

Letadlo

Mi-24, Drones

Ztráty

1 letadloOne Mi-24: the FAMa said it crashed on a routine mission with no deaths; the CSP said its fighters damaged it. Ground losses are claims: CSP says 47 Malian soldiers and 84 Wagner men killed; JNIM claimed 10 and 50.

Zdroje

Wikipedie · Human Rights Watch · obranaWeb

Defence of Bamako and the bases; helicopter and drone support to besieged garrisons such as Anefis.

At about 05:20 on 25 April 2026 JNIM and the FLA attacked Kati, Bamako and its airport, the Sénou base, Gao, Sévaré and Kidal at once. The defence minister, General Sadio Camara, was killed when a car bomb exploded at his residence in Kati. The government called the situation ‘of extreme gravity’ but ‘under control’; the Africa Corps called it a prevented coup and claimed more than 1,000 insurgents killed. Russian troops then withdrew from Kidal, Aguelhok, Tessalit and other northern posts, and JNIM said it took a base near Tessalit on 1 May. General Goïta named himself defence minister on 4 May. In July the siege of Anefis cost the air force a Mi-24 on 5 July, and JNIM shot down another near Kouakourou on 19 July.

Výsledek Ongoing. Kidal and several northern posts were abandoned; Bamako and the main bases held.

Casualty claims are each side’s; no official Malian loss figures were published.

Létání pro

Malijské letectvo

Kde

Kati, Bamako-Sénou, Gao, Sévaré, Kidal and central Mali

Vedle

Ruský africký sbor

Proti

JNIM and Azawad Liberation Front (FLA)

Letadlo

Mi-24P/Mi-35M, Bayraktar TB2, L-39C

Ztráty

A Mi-35 downed in the Gao region in April (later said to be the Africa Corps’s, crew killed); Mi-24s shot down near Anefis on 5 July and near Kouakourou on 19 July 2026, crew killed.

Zdroje

Wikipedie · Wikipedie · Vojenská Afrika · defenceWeb (ACLED analysis)