Burkina Faso has acquired PLL-05 gun-mortar carriers and SR-5 MLRS from China to strengthen its army’s fire support capabilities as a part of its transition.
Burkina Faso’s efforts for an up-armament are continuing with a package of vehicles from China to bolster fire support capabilities. Defence Blog reported that VN22B fire support vehicle with 105 mm rifled gun, PLL-05 with a 120 mm gun/mortar weapon, and SR5 MLRS with what appears to be 122 mm unguided rockets are present in the package from the social media images.
After declaring French presence unwanted with defence matters included, Burkina Faso has begun restructuring its military to be able to perform larger scale operations. Among the major challenges following the drift away from France is establishing a force to combat the increasing terrorism effectively. In fact, this subject has been a place to low blow for pro-French circles stating that French forces had kept the terrorism threat at bay and those casting aside the French military presence are leaving themselves exposed.
Acquiring Bayraktar TB2 and AKINCI UAVs from Turkiye could be given as an example to expand the operational envelope in the air force department. Another lacking equipment group has been modern fire support assets. The acquisition from China that includes a modular MLRS and gun/mortar vehicles is a step in filling said gap.
Burkina Faso’s inclination towards new partners in defence, like Turkiye and China, is not the only case. Similar to Burkina Faso, multiple African countries are showing a such inclination. The main reasons include trying new partners with plans of more independent policies and more acceptable costs compared to Western (or more specifically French) counterparts for equipment.
Author: Kaan Azman
Editor:Özgür Ekşi
