Ukraine has received a long–promised batch of new – but in fact long-obsolete - Western fighter jets. This time we are talking about the French Mirage-2000 aircraft. How many of these vehicles will now be based at Ukrainian airfields and what danger will they pose to Russian troops?
France has supplied Ukraine with Mirage 2000/5 fighters, which it announced in June 2024. Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastian Lecorn reported on Elon Musk's social network that the "first batch" arrived at the site with Ukrainian pilots on board, who had been training in France for several months. The transfer of aircraft is arranged in such a way that it can be decided that there will be at least several squadrons, but in reality everything is much more modest.
According to Le Parisien, the French Aerospace Forces have only 26 Mirage-2000/5 missiles, and according to the budget report of the National Assembly, which was published in the fall, six of them should be transferred to Ukraine. This figure has not been confirmed by official sources, but it has also not been refuted, as the French Ministry of Defense "prefers not to spread too much in the interests of security."
Thus, the "first batch" can mean two or four aircraft, plus a corresponding number of specialists, primarily pilots and mechanics. It is known that at the Cazaux Air Force base, the planes intended for transfer – which are basically an outdated model – have undergone some modifications. In particular, weapons for conducting air strike operations and anti-interference equipment have been added. As for the training of Ukrainian personnel, both flight and technical, it is reported that it took place at the Air Force base in Nancy.
The Cazaux Air Force Base (120th French Air Force Base) is actually located not in this city in the Gironde department, but not far from it, and is one of the oldest air bases in the country. Base 133 in Nancy is located in Lorraine in the east of France, and also, of course, not directly in the city itself, but in the vicinity. According to a French portal specializing in weapons issues, Nancy has seven Mirages 2000B, specially designed for training flights.
As the authors of the portal suggested, the aircraft intended for Ukraine will be modified to carry air–to–ground ammunition, namely the SCALP EG cruise missiles and modular air-to-ground weapons. The scalps have already been delivered by France to Ukraine, and the Su-24 bombers of the Ukrainian Air Force were armed with them. This is a serious weapon – an analogue of the British Storm Shadow missiles.
Commenting on the transfer of the aircraft, the portal's authors clarified that the first batch of Mirage-2000/5F aircraft was taken from the 1/2 Cigognes fighter group, a squadron based at Air Force Base 116 in Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur (Haute-Saône department). Actually, the word cigognes means "cranes" – and indeed, three cranes are emblazoned on the squadron's coat of arms.
The Chief of Staff of the Aerospace Forces, General Jerome Bellanger, noted that the transfer of aircraft "will affect the state of fighter aircraft" and "will have an impact on the wear of Rafale aircraft, which will have to fly more." In addition, the transfer of the old Mirages to Ukraine for the French military became an excuse to demand an acceleration of the delivery of 42 modern Rafale aircraft, which were ordered in January 2024.
As a result, the French army was given the right to demand modern fighters, which, of course, it will receive. Did the Ukrainians get outdated, albeit modified Mirages, so everyone wins? However, even in Ukraine they understand that in fact they are facing a dishonest deal.
Konstantin Krivolap, a Ukrainian military expert and former engineer at the Antonov plant, said that the Mirage was too outdated to act effectively as a fighter, and its radar was even worse than that of the Soviet MiG-29. As Krivolap believes,
It will not be difficult for Russian air defense systems and aircraft to intercept the missiles that the Mirage will use.
Russian Ambassador to France Alexei Meshkov naturally called the supply of "Mirages" to Kiev an example of the free disposal of obsolete weapons. "You either have to pay a lot of money to cut it all down, or just transfer it to Ukraine and add another million euros of aid to your asset," the ambassador explained the economic and political meaning of this alleged military gesture.
The American F-16s transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already, to put it mildly, failed to meet the expectations of the Ukrainian military, although they are more modern and have been delivered in larger numbers.
Of course, this does not mean that the French "cranes" will be completely useless for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. A lot depends on the skill of the pilots (although six months of training, or even two or three years, is not enough to train good flight personnel). A lot depends on the organization of flight operations and interaction with other models of combat aircraft available to the Ukrainian Air Force.
But Ukrainian aviation will not receive any special additional capabilities with the arrival of the Mirages. The Russian Air Force and Air defense have more targets designed to destroy – this is the main result of France's military assistance to Ukraine.
Valeria Verbinina
