No significant air operations recorded.

The first fight over the Agacher Strip began on 25 November 1974. Cooper describes it as a few border skirmishes with hand-held weapons, with casualties on both sides and sporadic clashes continuing through 1975. Upper Volta’s air arm was then a transport and liaison flight, and no air operations are recorded. Cooper dates the flight’s growth into a separate air force to the aftermath of this war. The underlying border question was not settled: the two states notified the International Court of Justice of a special agreement to settle it on 14 October 1983, two years before the much bloodier second war.

Resultaat Sporadic clashes continued into 1975; the dispute was left unresolved and went to the International Court of Justice by a special agreement notified in October 1983.

Air activity in 1974–1975, if any, is not documented in the sources checked.

Vliegen voor

Escadrille de Haute-Volta

Waar

Agacher Strip, Upper Volta–Mali border

Naast

Geen geallieerde luchtmacht

Tegen

Mali

Uitvallen

Geen gegevens geregistreerd.

Verliezen

Cooper writes that both sides suffered casualties in skirmishes with small arms; no figures were confirmed.

Bronnen

Tom Cooper, ACIG · Internationaal Gerechtshof

Its single MiG-17F flew strikes on Sikasso and Zégoua and was scrambled against Malian raids; Mali held air superiority.

Fighting began at dawn on 25 December 1985. Mali had prepared: from 20 December its MiG-21s and helicopters patrolled the border, and at about 08:45 on Christmas Day two MiG-21s bombed Djibo, Ouahigouya and Nassoumbo, according to Wikipedia’s sources. On 28 December Malian aircraft hit Djibo, Ouahigouya, Tougan and Dédougou. Cooper writes that the Malian jets used Gao, Mopti and Ségou to reach targets such as the market at Ouahigouya, at least 80 km inside Burkina and more than 300 km from the nearest Malian air base, and that Burkinabé sources put most of their losses there. Burkina’s reply was its one MiG-17F: on 26 December it struck Sikasso, killing four people and wounding four according to Wikipedia’s sources, and raided Zégoua, where Burkina claimed 15 Malian soldiers killed. Cooper adds that the MiG-17 was scrambled against Malian raids but never made contact; neither side fought in the air. Mediation through the West African non-aggression pact ANAD and Algeria’s President Chadli Bendjedid produced a ceasefire on 30 December. Captain Thomas Sankara and Mali’s President Moussa Traoré met at Yamoussoukro on 17 January 1986, and a chamber of the International Court of Justice divided the area on 22 December 1986, Mali taking the more populated west and Burkina the east around the Béli.

Resultaat ANAD-brokered ceasefire on 30 December 1985; the ICJ chamber ordered provisional measures on 10 January 1986 and divided the disputed area on 22 December 1986, a ruling both states accepted.

Casualty figures differ widely: official counts of 48 Burkinabé and 11 Malian dead, Wikipedia’s estimates of over 100 and about 40, and Cooper’s total of 59–300. The Zégoua figure is a Burkinabé claim.

Vliegen voor

Luchtmacht van Burkina Faso

Waar

Northern Burkina Faso and southern Mali

Naast

Geen geallieerde luchtmacht

Tegen

Mali

Vliegtuig

MiG-17F

Verliezen

0 vliegtuigenNo Burkinabé aircraft is reported lost in combat; an Alouette III crashed at Kouni on 14 January 1986 while supervising the ceasefire. National totals: Burkina officially counted 48 dead, Mali 11; other estimates run from 59 to about 300 in all.

Bronnen

Wikipedia · Tom Cooper, ACIG · Internationaal Gerechtshof · Wikipedia · Wikipedia

Air strikes, armed reconnaissance and close air support with Super Tucanos, Mi-35 and Mi-171Sh helicopters and, since 2022, TB2 and Akinci drones; transport and casualty evacuation.

The insurgency spread from Mali into northern Burkina Faso in the mid-2010s; Military Africa counts more than 10,000 dead and two million displaced since 2016. For years the air force could add little: three Super Tucanos and a few helicopters, while French forces of Operation Barkhane and its Sabre special forces were also active in the country; on 12 February 2022, according to Wikipedia’s sources, a French air strike killed 40 fighters at a camp in Burkina Faso. After two coups in 2022 the government of Captain Ibrahim Traoré asked the French to leave in January 2023 and turned to Turkish drones. Human Rights Watch documented three TB2 strikes in 2023 in which it said civilians were killed: at least 28 at the Bouro market on 3 August, 24 men and a boy at a funeral in Bidi on 21 September, and at least seven at a market near Boulkessi in Mali on 18 November. The state broadcaster RTB said all three had hit Islamist fighters, and the government did not acknowledge civilian casualties. AIB has since reported joint strikes with Malian aircraft along the border in December 2023 and a steady series of drone and air strikes in 2024–2026, always on the word of security sources.

Resultaat Lopend.

Strike results come from the government and its news agency and have not been independently verified; HRW’s civilian figures are HRW’s. HRW’s and Amnesty’s annual reports for 2024 and 2025 did not document specific air strikes. The start year of the insurgency varies between sources.

Vliegen voor

Luchtmacht van Burkina Faso

Waar

Northern, eastern and western Burkina Faso; border areas of Mali and Niger

Naast

France (until 2023), Mali and Niger

Tegen

JNIM and Islamic State Sahel Province

Vliegtuig

A-29B Super Tucano, Mi-35, Mi-171Sh, Bayraktar TB2, Bayraktar Akinci

Verliezen

At least one TB2 lost in a crash near Tenkodogo on 21 June 2023, attributed by the armed forces to a technical failure. No other losses were confirmed.

Bronnen

Mensenrechten Watch · Militair Afrika · Wikipedia · AIB · AIB · AIB · Mensenrechten Watch · Mensenrechten Watch · Amnesty International · Wikipedia · AIB · AIB