The jet fighter era
In 1974, 12 MiG-21bis were
acquired from the Soviet Union.
A pair of two-seat MiG-21UMs
followed a couple of years later.
These initial Fishbeds served
alongside the four remaining MiG-
17Fs and saw combat on two
occasions over the Agacher Strip:
in 1974 against Upper Volta, and
in 1985 against the same country,
now named Burkina Faso.
In 2005, another three MiG-21MFs
were delivered from the Czech
Republic, reinforcing the surviving
jets. By 2010, the Fishbeds were
only flown on ceremonial duties,
including the 50th anniversary of
Malian independence that year,
when three examples – probably the
former Czech aircraft – took part in
a flypast. As of January 2012, only
one MiG-21MF and one MiG-21UM
apparently remained operational.
That month, the National Movement
for the Liberation of Azawad
(NMLA), a Tuareg rebel group,
said it had destroyed one of them,
but it was a false claim. In the
following months, the fleet was
grounded by a lack of spare parts,
ammunition, kerosene and probably
pilots. The Nigerian Air Force
sent a technical assistance team
to Bamako-Sénou International
Airport on January 11, 2013, with
the aim of helping refurbish several
of the MiG-21s, but the project
seems to have been abandoned.
Other jet equipment comprised
six L-29 Delfins delivered to the
pilot school at Bamako in 1983.
All have long been withdrawn.
Transports and rotors
A first An-26 transport was
acquired in 1989. One of these
aircraft, TZ-347, crashed 2.5
miles (4km) from Thessaloniki
International Airport in Greece
on August 31, 1995, killing all
six occupants. Two more
Malian Air Force
modernisation
Force Aérienne de la République du Mali serials
Type Identity Remarks Base
Mi-24D T Z- 404 Ex-Bulgarian Air Force BA102 Sévaré
T Z- 02H (ex T Z- 405?) Ex-Bulgarian Air Force BA102 Sévaré
T Z- 40 6 Ex-Bulgarian Air Force; crashed April 12, 2013
T Z- 407 Ex-Bulgarian Air Force; stored BA10 3 Gao
T Z- 415 Ex-Bulgarian Air Force; stored BA101 Bamako-Sénou
T Z- 0 3H (ex T Z- 414) Ex-Bulgarian Air Force BA102 Sévaré
Mi-35M T Z-13H
T Z-14H
Tétras 912CSL T Z- 395 c/n 80 BA101 Bamako-Sénou
TZ-396 c/n 81
T Z- 397 c/n 105 BA101 Bamako-Sénou
T Z- 398 c /n 113
T Z- 40 0
T Z- 401 c/n 124
T Z- 402 (ex T Z- 40 6) c/n 137 BA101 Bamako-Sénou
T Z- 40 8 c/n 171
TZ-409 c/n 159 BA102 Sévaré
T Z- 410 c/n 158 BA101 Bamako-Sénou
T Z- 416 c/n 186
T Z-14R (ex T Z- 417 ) c/n 197 BA101 Bamako-Sénou
T Z- 418 c/n 203 BA101 Bamako-Sénou
T Z- 421
An-26 T Z- 347 Crashed August 31, 1995
T Z- 349 Status unknown
T Z- 359 First seen 1989; c/n 5306; stored
T Z- 39 9 c/n 14310, ex CCCP-26594, ex
RA-26594, ex ER-AZK; stored
BA101 Bamako-Sénou
BT- 67 T Z- 389 (1) Crashed pre-delivery, March 15, 1997
T Z- 389 (2) Temporary replacement; later N300BF
T Z- 01T (ex T Z- 39 0) Delivered September 1997
T Z- 391 Delivered July 1998, returned to Basler
2007; later N167BT, C-GJKB
Z- 9A TZ-393 Ex-Chinese; crashed September 10, 2001
T Z- 394 Ex-Chinese; stored BA101 Bamako-Sénou
C295W T Z-11T
A S 3 3 2L1
Super Puma
T Z-21H
T Z-22H
Y-12E T Z-21T
TZ-22T
SF260W T Z- 411 Ex-Libyan Air Force; withdrawn
T Z- 412 Ex-Libyan Air Force
Cessna 185 T Z- 359 Active as of late 2014
Cessna 206 T Z- 3?? Noted 2014; ex F-WTBU
Below: Two second-hand AS332L1 Super Pumas were ordered for the
FARM and delivered in October 2016 and January the following year. This
example was formerly G-BWMG with Bristow and was sold to Mali by Vector
Aerospace. FARM
Mi-24D TZ-03H photographed in
February 2017. This is the former TZ-
414, another ex-Bulgarian Air Force
machine. FARM
http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #359 FEBRUARY 2018 // 85