On Sunday, two rebel groups in Mali were able to control the city of Kidal in northern Mali. They were able to control several infrastructures, including a station for directing drones that the Malian army had left behind.
Published on: 04/30/2026 - 18:48 Last updated: 04/30/2026 - 19:37
Since separatists from the Front for the Liberation of Azawad and jihadists from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims took control of the city of Kidal in northern Mali, video clips by fighters have been widely published on Facebook. The rebels took pictures of themselves in front of armored vehicles they captured.
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Some of these vehicles are owned by Africa Corps, a Russian paramilitary group that replaced the Wagner Group and others affiliated with the Malian armed forces.
Among the photos taken by fighters in rebel groups, one was particularly interesting. It is a mobile unit for guiding drones. A video clip shows the arsenal of weapons possessed by the Malian armed forces controlling the north of the country.
Unprecedented spoils in a military base
When they entered the military base in the city of Kidal, fighters from rebel groups found unprecedented spoils. A sand-coloured container, protected by a fence and placed on a truck. The fighter who was filming the scene entered the container. Inside we discover three screens and a number of technical equipment, in addition to three manual control machines to guide the drones.
The matter is related to the “GCS” unit (short for Ground Control Station in English), which means a mobile control unit for drones that allows its workers to direct military drones from the ground. These drones are known to be widely used in northern Mali and were operated by the Malian army. These Turkish-made drones are called “TB2” or “Akinci” according to the manufacturing model. These drones have the ability to conduct surveillance and monitoring in the region, in addition to launching guided bombs that are used to launch strikes against civilians, similar to what happened in the city of Amasrakad in March 2024.
The locations of the various elements photographed at the Kidal military base match screens and manual controls that appear in a documentary recording of the Turkish company Bayraktar, which supplies the Malian armed forces with this type of drone.
This same type of drone remote control unit was also photographed by the Malian state television Office de radio-télévision du Mali (ORTM), in a video report on the use of TB2 drones by the Malian armed forces.
According to Bayraktar, this steel container constitutes an ACE III shelter, a type of container that has been specially manufactured for operations and conforms to NATO regulations. This container acts like a "Faraday cage" that interrupts the electromagnetic signals inside.
This video clip shows the presence of several aerial sensors. The latter was very similar to the one shown in a photo belonging to the Polish army, which had announced when it published the photos that it had purchased TB2 drones.
It is difficult to determine the exact role of this control unit, but the investigative site "Perma" confirms that it is related to a signal transmitter. This vehicle appears in the directory of the Turkish airport equipment company, Denge Airport Equipment.
Although the rebel groups control the drone remote control station, no photos have been circulated confirming their control over TB2 drones. According to local sources, the drone control station was bombed, but it is difficult to verify the extent of the damage.
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