VIGIL CONSILIUMSearch
Context. Not headlines.
Equipment catalogue · shared across conflicts

Helicopter

SA342 Gazelle

Light attack helicopters of the opening intervention — one crew took the first French loss of Serval in January 2013.

GazelleFranceFrench service; combat use in Mali 2013

Status as of
2014-08
Last reviewed
2026-07-19

AssessmentHigh confidence

Recognition context, not a stat sheet. The catalogue covers major publicly documented systems relevant to the conflicts Vigil covers — not an exhaustive order of battle. No quantities, availability or current allocations are recorded.

The recordWhat this system is, where it comes from, who operates it and which of Vigil’s modules it is relevant to — with the evidence each of those rests on.

Historical / withdrawnEvidence: Documented
Silhouette · not to scale

Record

FamilyGazelle
VariantsSA342M
OriginFrance
EraFrench service; combat use in Mali 2013
Appears inMali (Serval, historical)

Conflict relevance

This is the catalogue's single record for this system. It is relevant to the module below; each module's Force Atlas shows how it is used there.

Sahel · Force Atlas

Operators

France · Historical operator

Battlefield role

Serval's light attack helicopter in the January 2013 counter-offensive — low-level gun and missile runs against advancing jihadist columns in the campaign's opening engagements, where France took its first loss of the intervention.

Branch & service operators

Related key events

11 Jan 2013Campaign link

Launch of Operation Serval

After a jihadist column pushes south toward Sévaré and the road to Bamako, France intervenes at Mali's request with airstrikes and a rapid ground force.

PartialConfidence: HighSources: Established historical recordMethodologyCorrections

Assessed as of2014-08Last reviewed2026-07-19