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

Air defence · used chiefly in the ground role

ZU-23-2

Twin 23mm cannon — nominally anti-air, in practice the heaviest direct-fire weapon on both sides’ gun trucks.

ZU-23Soviet Union1960 service entry; ubiquitous across the Sahel

Status as of
2026-01
Last reviewed
2026-07-19

AssessmentModerate 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.

FieldedEvidence: Documented
Silhouette · not to scale

Record

FamilyZU-23
VariantsZU-23-2
OriginSoviet Union
Era1960 service entry; ubiquitous across the Sahel
Appears inMali

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

Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) · Primary operator

Malian Armed Forces (FAMa): Also documented in armed-group hands on captured technicals.

Battlefield role

The Sahel war's heavy weapon of choice: truck-mounted ZU-23-2s give both army columns and insurgent raids their heaviest direct fire. With no air threat to engage, the type's meaning in this conflict is entirely ground combat.

Limitations

Unstabilised area fire, indiscriminate at range; documented in armed-group hands on captured technicals — the standard route by which state stocks circulate into insurgent arsenals.

Branch & service operators

PartialConfidence: ModerateSources: Established international media reporting · ACLED conflict data & analysis↗MethodologyCorrections

Assessed as of2026-01Last reviewed2026-07-19