Ukraine Could Get a Lot More Mirage 2000 Fighters
More ex-French Mirage 2000s means more critical aerial jamming capability for the outnumbered Ukrainian air force
The Ukrainian air force lost important aerial jamming capacity when one of its precious few ex-French Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters crashed on 22 July. Fortunately for the air force, France is likely to at least double the number of supersonic, delta-wing Mirage 2000s it’s giving to Ukraine.
“France will announce that it is giving 20 Mirages instead of 10,” former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Le Monde recently. At least one observer believes France will eventually give Ukraine more than two dozen of the 1980s-vintage, but heavily upgraded, jets.
The first of the single-seat Mirage 2000s arrived in Ukraine in February.
The French air force still flies two squadrons worth of Mirage 2000s—around 26 airframes. But newer Dassault Rafales are gradually replacing the Mirage 2000s, freeing up surplus jets for onward transfer to Ukraine.
The extra planes Kuleba mentioned would soften the blow from the July crash. “An aircraft equipment failure occurred” during an evening training flight, the air force reported at the time. The pilot ejected—and a search team quickly fetched him. “There were no casualties on the ground,” according to the air force.
It was yet another in a series of incidents that have depleted Ukraine’s inventory of newer Western-made warplanes. The service has also lost four of its ex-European Lockheed Martin F-16s since the fighters began flying combat sorties back in August. Three pilots have died.
More Mirage 2000s and F-16s are coming, but we don’t yet know exactly how many—or how fast. France may donate a couple of dozen Mirage 2000s. Meanwhile, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway have pledged at least 87 flyable F-16s. It’s possible that around 50 of the F-16s are already in Ukraine or in Romania, where NATO instructors train Ukrainian pilots.