Insurgent teams in Mali seize a drone management station

[ad_1] Malian insurgent teams have been relentlessly posting on Fb ever since they captured the Malian metropolis of Kidal on April 26. The movies present the fighters – each separatists from the Azawad Liberation Entrance (FLA) and jihadists from the Group for the Assist of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) – posing in entrance of captured or destroyed army automobiles.

Armed males pose in entrance of a Chinese language-made VP11 automobile on this picture posted on X on April 27, 2026. Supply: X / HamzaRikan37693 To show this content material from X (Twitter), you need to allow commercial monitoring and viewers measurement.

Settle for Handle my selections Among the automobiles as soon as belonged to the Africa Corps – the Russian paramilitary group that took over from Wagner mercenaries – whereas others belong to the Malian armed forces.

Nonetheless, one picture particularly posted by the insurgent teams is especially attention-grabbing. It reveals a cellular floor management station for drones utilized by the Malian Military to manage the northern a part of the nation.

An unprecedented haul for the rebels In one of many movies, a fighter factors the digital camera in the direction of a sand-coloured container, protected by wire mesh, sitting on the again of a truck within the Kidal army base. When he enters the container, he movies the inside: stuffed with three screens, racks of digital gear and joysticks.

An account that helps the FLA separatists revealed this video on April 27, 2026. It reveals a floor management station for working Turkish-made TB2 drones. Supply: X / BayeAg1 To show this content material from X (Twitter), you need to allow commercial monitoring and viewers measurement.

Settle for Handle my selections It’s a Floor Management Station (or GCS), a cellular management station the place operators fly army drones. The drone fashions utilized by the Malian Armed Forces – the TB2 and the Akinci – are Turkish-made. They're able to conducting surveillance and reconnaissance, in addition to dropping guided bombs. They’ve been utilized in strikes on civilian populations, like within the village of Amasrakad in March 2024.

Learn extra Drones and affect: Unique investigation into Turkey's energy play in Africa

The positions of the screens and joysticks filmed within the container correspond to the fashions that seem on the web site of Baykar, the Turkish firm that provides the Malian military with army drones.

The bottom management station filmed on April 27, 2026, on the Kidal army base is for working TB2 drones. You possibly can inform by the place of the screens and joysticks. © baykartech.com This identical floor management centre was filmed by the Workplace of Radio and Tv of Mali (ORTM) in 2022, throughout a report on the Malian Armed Forces’ use of Turkish TB2 drones.

This report from the Workplace of Radio and Tv of Mali (ORTM), posted on-line in 2022, reveals a Malian soldier in a TB2 floor management station. © Youtube / Workplace de Radio Télévision du Mali In keeping with Baykar, the container is an ACE III shelter, a kind of container specifically constructed for operations that meets NATO requirements. The container is sort of a Faraday cage – no electromagnetic alerts penetrate the inside.

The video additionally reveals the presence of various antennae, which resemble these seen in a photograph shared by the Polish military to announce the acquisition of TB2 drones.

These images revealed in October 2022 by the Polish Defence Ministry present management stations for TB2 drones. © Polish Defence Ministry Whereas it's onerous to find out the precise function that these antennas play in drone operations, the web investigator Perma reported that they're used to relay alerts. The antennas seem within the catalogue of the Turkish firm Denge Airport Gear.

These movies filmed on the Kidal base on April 27, 2026 (beneath) appear to indicate the mannequin bought by the Turkish firm Denge Airport Gear (above). © Observers Whereas the insurgent teams might have captured the drone floor management centre, no photographs have been posted exhibiting them in possession of TB2 drones. Native sources reported that the drone floor management station was focused in an air strike, however it's not possible to ascertain the extent of harm incurred.