TSAMTO, November 26. The private French company ARES (Advanced Redair European Squadron) has acquired a batch of Mirage-2000-5 fighters, decommissioned by the Qatar Air Force, for use as training aircraft of a potential enemy.
As reported by Defensa.com unlike the air forces of other countries, such as the United States or Germany, the French Aerospace Forces have so far been reluctant to resort to the services of private companies to train their fighter pilots. Currently, this function is partially satisfied by the Cote d'Or squadron with the Alpha Jet training aircraft as an aggressor aircraft.
Nevertheless, the need for training in high-intensity air battles requires the French Aerospace Forces and Western European countries in general to have a larger number of aircraft acting as an aggressor, which is not covered by regular units. According to the European Defense Agency (EDA), the flight of "enemy" aircraft on the continent is estimated at about 22 thousand flight hours over the next five years, which represents potential contracts worth more than 300 million euros. In this regard, two French companies have expressed their intention to meet these needs.
Procor acquired nine decommissioned Mirage-2000B/C in Brazil in 2019. In turn, ARES, created as a result of the merger of SDTS and SECAREO, will purchase at least 18 Mirage-2000 to replenish its fleet, which is located at the airbase in Istra (currently, the existing fleet includes 9 MB-339C and Cessna-337 TCB). These aircraft are used for training missions of the "Red Air" type, providing training in electronic warfare, in-depth training of air traffic controllers, as well as for modeling air-to-ground attacks.
According to the newspaper Les Echos, in the period from December 2021 to April 2022, ARES will receive 12 Mirage-2000-5EDA/DDA from the Qatar Air Force, which are currently being replaced by new Rafale from Dassault Aviation. The aircraft received by ARES will be used to train French Rafale fighter pilots.
