File image.
Russia’s Africa Corps has reportedly brough suicide drones, specifically Garpiya-1As, to Mali to support the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) in its fight against the separatist Tuareg Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).
The two groups launched a large-scale offensive across the Sahel country on April 25, and managed to make some serious gains.
The deployment of Garpiya-1A drones in Mali was confirmed on May 18, when video footage showing the remains of one such drone near the town of Sévaré surfaced online.
Sévaré, located in the central region of Mopti, is under the control of FAMa, but JNIM has been notably active close to the town since the large-scale offensive.
The Garpiya-1A is produced by IEMZ Kupol which is a subsidiary of Russian defense giant Almaz-Antey. The drone features a basic delta wing design, similar to that of Iran’s Shahed-136, with a reported range of up to 1,500 kilometers while carrying a warhead weighing at least 40 kg.
The drone is mainly equipped with a jamming-resistance GLONASS-aided inertial navigation system for one-way attack operations, but can be also modified with other payloads to carry out surveillance, electronic warfare, or even communication relay missions.
The aviation wing of the Africa Corps in Mali already operates its own fighter jets, combat drones, and attack helicopters, alongside those of the Malian Air Force.
The Garpiya-1A is still a major edition as it will expand the precision strike capabilities of Russian and Malian forces in a notable matter.
Over the last two weeks, the FLA and JNIM offensive faded away, and now the situation is swinging back in favor of the military government in Mali.
The alliance between JNIM and FLA may not last for too long. JNIM seeks to replace established state authority with a conservative interpretation of Islamic law, while the FLA was founded by several Tuareg movements based on its demands for the independence or autonomy of Azawad.
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