The first of an undisclosed number of Mirage 2000 combat aircraft will arrive in Ukraine in early 2025, the French defence minister said. (French Air and Space Force)
Dassault Mirage 2000 combat aircraft promised by France will arrive in Ukraine in early 2025, it was announced on 8 October.
French Minister of the Armed Forces SĂ©bastien Lecornu made the disclosure from his official X (formerly Twitter) account, providing a timeline some five months after French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the transfer in June.
“Mirage 2000 bound for Ukraine: delivery still scheduled for the first quarter of 2025. In Cazaux, Gironde, they will be equipped with new equipment: air-ground combat and anti-electronic warfare defence. The training of Ukrainian pilots and mechanics continues,” the minister tweeted.
In March 2023 Le Figaro reported that up to 30 Ukrainian pilots were being trained on the Mirage 2000 in France, and that the French Air and Space Force could deliver “dozens” of such jets to Kyiv if the French government takes the decision. Neither Lecornu nor Macron have said how many Mirages will be transferred to Ukraine.
As noted by Janes World Air Forces , the French Air and Space Force has 27 single-seat Mirage 2000-5F combat aircraft it received from 1997, as well as seven twin-seat Mirage 2000Bs from 1983, and 60 twin-seat Mirage 2000Ds from 1993. These are all progressively being replaced in French service by the Dassault Rafale, hence their availability for Ukraine. France also has an undisclosed number of Mirage 2000Cs in storage, having retired the last squadron in 2022.
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