Which African Countries Operate NORINCO VN-Series Armoured Vehicles?

Six African states have documented orders, deliveries or in-service use of NORINCO’s VN-series wheeled armoured vehicles (VN1, VN22 and VN22B) or the related VN4 police carrier. Four have confirmed in-service use: Gabon (VN1), Senegal (VN22/VN22B), Côte d’Ivoire (VN22/VN22B) and Kenya, where the VN4 equips the National Police Service rather than the armed forces. Burkina Faso and Mali have taken large deliveries without a documented in-service appearance. A widely repeated claim that Ghana received VN-22s in October 2024 does not survive scrutiny of the same shipment’s onward route.

Photo: A NORINCO VN1 8×8 infantry fighting vehicle, the same design Gabon’s Republican Guard put on parade in 2019, pictured at a Royal Thai Army facility. Credit: Mobius1TH, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Direct answer

Operational: Gabon (VN1, Republican Guard), Senegal (VN22/VN22B, Gendarmerie Nationale), Côte d’Ivoire (VN22/VN22B, 1st Armoured Brigade) and Kenya (VN4, National Police Service – a police, not a military, fleet). Delivered, with no documented in-service appearance: Burkina Faso and Mali, both still absorbing large 2024-2025 shipments that also included CS/VP14 MRAPs and other Chinese equipment. A fifth country, Ghana, is widely reported as a VN-22 recipient because a shipment passed through Tema port in October 2024, but the weight of later reporting indicates that cargo was transiting to Burkina Faso, not entering Ghanaian service; it is listed as unconfirmed, not as an operator.

Quick operator table

Manufacturer: China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO); one Kenyan press report attributes the VN4 instead to Chongqing Tiema Industries Corporation – see Quantity conflicts. Origin: China. UNKNOWN means no source reviewed gives the figure; nothing has been estimated to fill a cell.

Map: status by country

Each country is coloured by its highest verified status across the VN1, VN22, VN22B and VN4 family; Ghana is excluded as unconfirmed.

Confirmed operators

• Gabon. The Republican Guard’s Armoured Intervention Group showed five Norinco VN1 8×8 infantry fighting vehicles, unpainted in standard camouflage and evidently newly delivered, at the 17 August 2019 independence-day parade – Gabon’s first known African use of the type. Later parades reportedly showed a larger fleet.
• Senegal. The Gendarmerie Nationale displayed Chinese VN22 and 105mm-armed VN22B wheeled vehicles at the inauguration of its new High Command at the Samba Diéry Diallo barracks in Dakar on 3 November 2023. The exact quantity was not disclosed by the Gendarmerie.
• Côte d’Ivoire. The Forces Armées de Côte d’Ivoire’s 1st Armoured Brigade first released photos of its VN22B in April 2024 and later paraded VN22/VN22B fire-support vehicles alongside WZ551 armoured personnel carriers on an independence-day parade; outlets disagree on whether that parade was in 2024 or 2025.
• Kenya. Thirty Norinco VN4 4×4 armoured personnel carriers were commissioned for the National Police Service in February 2016 and issued to the General Service Unit and the Anti-Stock Theft Unit for use in landmine- and IED-prone areas such as Mandera, Elwak and West Pokot. This is a police fleet, not a Kenya Defence Forces capability, and is flagged as such throughout this page.

Delivered, status unclear

• Burkina Faso. Military Africa reported in January 2025 that the junta had received a large consignment of Chinese-manufactured armoured vehicles including Norinco VN22s, alongside CS/VP14 MRAPs and other equipment; Janes reported a further consignment including VN22B fire-support vehicles arriving on 10 October 2025. No parade or combat-deployment photograph of the VN-series specifically (as opposed to the wider delivery) was found in the sources reviewed.
• Mali. A convoy of covered 6×6 vehicles, identified by Janes as VN22 and VN22B types by their turret shapes, was filmed arriving in Bamako on 3 September 2025 after transiting the port of Conakry in Guinea. As with Burkina Faso, no subsequent in-service or parade appearance specific to the VN-series was found.

Reported but unconfirmed

Ghana. Army Recognition reported in October 2024 that at least 20 Norinco VN-22 vehicles had arrived at Ghana’s Tema port and credited this to Ghanaian military modernisation, citing Military Africa’s original report of the shipment. However, Janes’s later reporting on Burkina Faso’s own deliveries notes that Tema is the port routinely used for Burkinabe imports, and that further VN-series shipments tied to Burkina Faso’s own consignments were separately identified moving through the same route. No Ghanaian armed-forces statement, parade appearance or in-service photograph of a VN-22 has been found independent of the October 2024 port sighting. Given the direct conflict between a shipment-arrival report and later reporting indicating the same cargo type was transiting to a third country, Ghana is not counted as a confirmed operator and is excluded from the map. Readers should treat the Ghana claim, as repeated on some aggregator sites, with caution; the relevant correction is also worth reflecting on this site’s own Ghana Army weapons and equipment page, which currently repeats the uncorrected claim.

Retired

No African NORINCO VN-series or VN4 vehicle has been reported retired or withdrawn from service in the sources reviewed for this page.

Quantity conflicts

• Senegal: Army Recognition describes the Gendarmerie’s VN22/VN22B quantity as undisclosed, while Military Africa’s report of the same event cites a facilitator “overseeing the procurement of at least a dozen vehicles” – the two accounts do not state the same figure and neither has been independently corroborated by an official Senegalese statement.
• Côte d’Ivoire: Janes’s parade caption and Military Africa both describe nine VN-series fire-support vehicles in the same parade, but Janes dates that parade to the country’s 64th independence anniversary (2024) while separate Military Africa and Army Recognition pieces describe an “August 2025” parade with the same description; this page treats both as referring to the same 2024 event pending a clearer date, and lists the delivery year accordingly.
• Burkina Faso and Mali: running fleet totals are not published by either government. Reported figures (Burkina Faso’s approximately 30 VN22 in the January 2025 batch; Mali’s Janes count of 2 VN22B plus 3 probable VN22 versus Military Africa’s count of 9 VN22 plus 6 VN22B for the same September 2025 shipment) come from outlets working off video and photographic evidence of partly covered transporters, not an official manifest, and do not reconcile.
• Ghana versus Burkina Faso: see Reported but unconfirmed above for the Tema port discrepancy.
• Manufacturer attribution for the VN4: most reporting credits NORINCO directly, but one Kenyan outlet (The Standard) instead names Chongqing Tiema Industries Corporation as the builder. This page follows the majority attribution to NORINCO but flags the conflict.
• Countries checked with no VN-series evidence found: Nigeria (operates NORINCO Type-89 tracked vehicles, a different family, not the wheeled VN-series), Uganda, Cameroon, Togo, Chad and Niger, despite broader NORINCO sales relationships with several of them.

Procurement history

Kenya’s National Police Service was the earliest documented African VN-family user, commissioning 30 VN4s in February 2016 for border and counter-IED duties in the north and northeast. Gabon’s Republican Guard followed in August 2019 with the VN1, an export variant of the ZBL-09/ZBD-09 8×8 family already sold to Thailand and Venezuela. The heavier-gunned VN22 and 105mm VN22B entered West African service from late 2023, when Senegal’s Gendarmerie Nationale showed its fleet in Dakar, followed by Côte d’Ivoire’s first VN22B photos in April 2024. The largest and most recent deliveries have gone to Sahelian states fighting jihadist insurgencies: Burkina Faso and Mali both took large, multi-type Chinese shipments – including VN22/VN22B alongside CS/VP14 MRAPs and other systems – through 2024 and 2025, as both governments diversify away from older Soviet-pattern and Western equipment amid sanctions and supply disruption following their 2020s military takeovers.

Variants

VN1 is an 8×8 amphibious infantry fighting vehicle with a 30mm two-man turret, built for export from the ZBL-09/ZBD-09 family used domestically by the Chinese army. VN22 is a 6×6 wheeled armoured personnel carrier, typically shown with a 30mm remote turret; VN22B is the fire-support variant of the same 6×6 hull armed with a 105mm gun capable of firing HE, HEAT and APFSDS rounds. VN4 is a separate, smaller 4×4 mine-protected armoured personnel carrier aimed at police and paramilitary roles rather than front-line combat; it should not be confused with the larger VN-series 6×6/8×8 vehicles that dominate the rest of this page. CS/VP14, which has arrived alongside VN22/VN22B in several recent Sahelian shipments, is a separate NORINCO MRAP product and is outside this page’s scope.

African operational context

The VN-series spans three distinct African roles. Gabon’s VN1 and Côte d’Ivoire’s and Senegal’s VN22/VN22B equip conventional army or gendarmerie armoured units for homeland defence and show-of-force parades rather than active counter-insurgency campaigns. Kenya’s VN4 is explicitly a counter-IED and border-security tool for police units operating in a defined threat area along the Somali border. Burkina Faso’s and Mali’s much larger recent deliveries sit in a third category: bulk rearmament by Sahelian juntas fighting JNIM- and Islamic State-linked insurgencies, buying in volume from China as an alternative to Western and some Russian suppliers. The unresolved Ghana/Burkina Faso port discrepancy illustrates a recurring problem in tracking these deliveries: large shipments transiting West African ports before reaching a landlocked final destination are easily misattributed to the transit country by outlets working from port-arrival photography alone.

Related alternatives

For a side-by-side comparison of the VN4 against two other light 4x4s competing for African orders, see Otokar Cobra II vs Arquus Bastion vs NORINCO VN4: How Three Light Armoured 4x4s Compare for African Forces. For the broader context behind Burkina Faso’s Chinese armour build-up, see Why Did Burkina Faso Buy Chinese Armoured Vehicles?. For MRAPs from NORINCO and other suppliers operating in the same Sahel theatre as Burkina Faso’s and Mali’s fleets, see MRAPs used in the Sahel, and for vehicles designed or built on the continent rather than imported, see African-made armoured vehicles built on the continent. Envanter Medya, a sister publication, ranks the continent’s force structures in a Turkish-language ranking of Sub-Saharan Africa’s ten strongest armies, useful context for the Sahelian buyers covered here.

FAQ

Which African countries operate NORINCO VN-series armoured vehicles?

Gabon (VN1), Senegal (VN22/VN22B), Côte d’Ivoire (VN22/VN22B) and Kenya (VN4, police only) have documented in-service use. Burkina Faso and Mali have taken large deliveries including VN22 and VN22B vehicles without a documented in-service appearance yet.

Does Ghana operate the NORINCO VN-22?

Not confirmed. A widely repeated October 2024 report placed VN-22s at Ghana’s Tema port, but later reporting on Burkina Faso’s own deliveries indicates that port is routinely used for cargo transiting to landlocked Burkina Faso, and no Ghanaian in-service appearance of the vehicle has since been documented.

Is Kenya’s VN4 used by the military or the police?

The police. Kenya’s 30 VN4s were commissioned in 2016 for the National Police Service’s General Service Unit and Anti-Stock Theft Unit, not the Kenya Defence Forces.

What is the difference between the VN22 and the VN22B?

Both are 6×6 wheeled vehicles on the same NORINCO hull. The standard VN22 is typically fitted with a 30mm remote turret as an armoured personnel carrier, while the VN22B is a fire-support variant mounting a 105mm gun able to fire HE, HEAT and APFSDS ammunition.

How many VN-series vehicles has Mali received?

Not officially stated, and sources disagree. Janes identified 2 confirmed VN22B and 3 probable VN22 from a September 2025 convoy; Military Africa reported 9 VN22 and 6 VN22B for the same shipment. Neither figure is an official Malian government count.

Sources

• Military Africa – Gabonese military displays Norinco VN1 8×8 IFVs
• Janes – Gabon parades VN1 armoured vehicles
• Military Africa – Senegal strengthens armored inventory with Chinese and Turkish vehicles
• Army Recognition – Senegal showcases recently purchased Turkish and Chinese armored vehicles
• Military Africa – Ivory Coast boosts its military with Chinese VN22B wheeled armored assault vehicles
• Army Recognition – Côte d’Ivoire armed forces unveil new Chinese armored vehicles at independence day parade
• Janes – Ivorian military parades new equipment
• Army Recognition – Police of Kenya has received 30 new Chinese-made VN4 4×4 armoured vehicles
• China Daily, citing IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly – Overseas buyers swoop for China’s armored vehicles
• Military Africa – Burkina Faso receives more Chinese armoured vehicles
• Janes – Burkina Faso receives more Chinese equipment
• Janes – Mali receives new consignment of Chinese armour
• APA News – Mali: de nouveaux blindés chinois renforcent les FAMa
• Army Recognition – Ghana modernizes its armed forces by acquiring VN-22 armored vehicles from China (disputed claim, see Reported but unconfirmed)

Method: operators were checked against parade and delivery photography, defence-press reporting (Janes, Military Africa, Army Recognition, APA News, China Daily citing Janes) and this site’s own prior reporting on Burkina Faso; single-outlet or disputed figures are marked as conflicts above rather than silently resolved. Wikipedia and secondary aggregator pages were used only to locate underlying reports, never as the cited figure itself.

Last updated: 25 October 2026