In January 2013, as part of France's intervention in the Northern Mali conflict, a small number of Tigers have been deployed for combat operations in the theatre. Reportedly, early production Tiger HADs, known as Block 1, were deployed to the theater in November 2014 after having been deemed combat capable. In March 2017, two German Tigers were deployed to Mali in support of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, relieving AH-64 Apaches of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, with two more Tigers due to join them. On 26 July 2017, one of two German Tigers on the way to a support mission for UN troops crashed in the desert 70 km north of Gao for unknown reasons. Both pilots were killed in the crash.