VIGIL CONSILIUMSearch
Context. Not headlines.
Conflict coverage · Central Sahel

Malian Army (Armée de Terre)

Force Atlas

Malian Army (Armée de Terre)

MALIAN DEFENCE AND SECURITY FORCES (FDS) · BRANCH

Part of Malian Defence and Security Forces (FDS)

GovernmentActive
Assessed as of
2026-08
Reviewed
2026-08-30
Confidence
moderate
  • Vigil category device · not official insignia
Identity provenance

Vigil category device — drawn from this record’s own domain, echelon and role. Not an official insignia.

In brief

The land force — the bulk of the FDS, carrying the war in every region.

Scope
Structure, role, lineage and links. No subordinate records published.
Subordination
Subordination confirmed
Sources
3 on the record
Record state
Full

Broad area of activity

Garrisons and operations nationwide; the force that holds — and loses — the towns.

Notable history

Collapsed northward in 2012 under-equipped and under-paid; rebuilt through EUTM training and post-2021 recruitment drives. Expanded rapid-intervention battalions carry most offensive operations, typically alongside Russian personnel since 2022. The 2023 northern campaign was its high point; the 2024–2026 reversals from Tinzaouatène to Kidal its hardest test. In late April 2026 it gave up positions across three northern regions in three days — Kidal, Aguelhok, Tessalit, Tessit and Ber — and has not returned to them, a contraction onto supportable ground rather than a sequence of defeats in the field.

Strengths

Numbers and recruitment; hard-won counterinsurgency experience; vehicle-borne rapid intervention units; drone-supported operations.

Limitations

Isolated garrisons dependent on vulnerable convoys; morale and desertion pressures under repeated mass-casualty attacks; conduct in operations documented by UN and NGO reporting as a driver of civilian grievance.

Documented equipment

ACMAT Bastion · DocumentedBRDM-2 · DocumentedTechnicals (armed pickups) · DocumentedD-30 122mm howitzer · DocumentedBM-21 Grad · DocumentedZU-23-2 · Documented

Reported & historical equipment associations

BTR-80 · Reported

Related organisations

  • EUTM Mali Institutionally linked to · as of 2024-05 · high confidence

    Trained and mentored a large share of the Malian army over 2013–2022 before operational training was suspended.

Related locations

Anéfis · Defended · 2026-07

Anéfis: Held the base under siege and retook the town on 10 July 2026, at a stated cost of about 30 soldiers.

Quick actions

Explore this structureThe parent above it and its subordinates below, with every connector gradedAll formations in this moduleThe searchable index of every published organisation on both sides

System access

Where this record connects into the rest of Vigil. Each row is here because this organisation actually reaches it.

Equipment catalogue7 linked systems — family-level records, never quantitiesGeography1 related location on the module map
Sensitivity: Public · structuralConfidence: ModerateSources: Established international media reporting · ACLED conflict data & analysis↗ · UN Security Council and Panel of Experts reporting↗MethodologyCorrections

Assessed as of2026-08Last reviewed2026-08-30

See this force in the structure Interactive: select this record and follow what connects to it.