Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what support, if any, the Royal Air Force provides to British soldiers assigned to operations in Mali.

The UK supports two separate and distinct operations in Mali. We provide support to Operation BARKHANE, the French counter-terrorism operation, and MINUSMA, the UN peacekeeping mission to Mali.

UK forces deployed to MINUSMA have access to a range of UN air assets which enable movement and logistics operations. At present, there are no Royal Air Force assets assigned to MINUSMA. A small number of RAF personnel are embedded within the UK's MINUSMA deployment.

Three Royal Air Force Chinook helicopters are deployed to Mali in support of Operation BARKHANE.