Mali takes delivery of short-range air defence systems

A model of the Norinco Yitian-L SHORAD system, displayed at DIMDEX 2026. (Janes/Tom Barton)

The Armed Forces of Mali (FAMa) now have Chinese-made short-range air defence (SHORAD) systems, a video has shown.

Posted by a Malian blogger on 9 April 2026, the video was filmed at a location that Janes identified on Bamako's Avenue de l'Independence. The FAMa vehicles were moving northwards, which is the route taken by convoys carrying equipment overland from Conakry port in Guinea to the military bases in Kati, north of the capital.

Three of the transporters in the convoy together carried four vehicles that were almost certainly Norinco Yitian-L SHORAD systems without missiles fitted and with their radars folded backwards.

The Yitian-L is mounted on a Dongfeng Mengshi tactical vehicle and has four TY-90 missiles, making it lighter than the original Yitian and newer Yitian II, both of which are mounted on armoured personnel carriers and have eight missiles.

The system's radar has a range of 18 km and the TY-90 missile has a maximum range of 6 km and altitude of 4 km, according to Norinco.

The Mauritanian National Armed Forces were previously the only known operator of the Yitian-L as eight of the systems were displayed with other new Chinese equipment in June 2024.

The FAMa convoy in the video also included transporters carrying BeiBen tactical trucks fitted with shelters on their beds, other trucks carrying shipping containers, Toyota Land Cruiser escorts, a fuel tanker, and recovery vehicles.

For more, please see: Mali receives new consignment of Chinese armour