According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Angola may have received up to 175 former Soviet Army T-62s in second hand condition by 1985. South African intelligence reported only 30 of these in active service. They first appeared in "Operation Congresso II", a 1986 FAPLA offensive aimed at expelling rebels loyal to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) from Mavinga, and several were abandoned or destroyed. Some were also deployed alongside T-55s against UNITA the following year, although there is no indication that they were encountered by South African armour during the ensuing Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.