Mali Air War: inside a Harfang drone ground control station

The Harfang is a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned air vehicle (UAV) system that undertakes ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) missions in support of Operation Serval in Mali.

The UAV has been involved in all the most important missions the French have conducted on the ground in West Africa, filming the Foreign Legion paradrop over Timbuktu and the taking of Tessalit.

For the first time since the beginning of the air campaign, along with other photographs of the UAV on the ground (showing a brand new “sharkmouth” applied to the remotely piloted plane and the hangar used to recover the aircraft), the French Ministry of Defense has released some interesting images that depict the Harfang drone ground control station at Niamey, Niger.

Noteworthy, some images have been purposely blurred to hide sensitive information displayed on operators monitors.

Image credit: French MoD

Related articles

• French Foreign Legion paradrop over Timbuktu, Mali. As seen from a drone.
• These are the lessons the French have learnt from the Mali Air War, so far
• The taking of Tessalit airfield in Mali: air assault as seen from the camera of a Harfang drone
• Nigerian gunships, European airlifters (and weaponized U.S. drones) join Mali Air War

About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.