A French air force Mirage jet readies for takeoff during Red Flag exercises at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Aug. 8. (U. S. Air Force photo/Technical Sgt. Bob Sommer)
France will supply Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to Ukraine and begin training pilots this summer, with the first training completed by the end of the year, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on June 6 while in Normandy for D-Day commemorations.
In an interview with broadcasters TF1 and France 2, Macron said that France was building a coalition with other countries to provide the jets, similar to the coalition by several other European countries to supply Ukraine with American-made F-16 fighter jets.
Dassault Aviation produced about 600 Mirage 2000 jets, of which 315 entered service with the French Air and Space Force. The rest were exported to India, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Taiwan, Egypt, Brazil, Qatar and Peru.
The Mirage 2000-5 is an updated version with improved radar. It’s compatible with the Mica anti-aircraft missiles and Exocet anti-ship missiles as well as the Scalp land-attack cruise missiles and AASM glide bombs that France has supplied to Ukraine.
Macron declined to say how many jets France will provide, noting details will follow on June 7 when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Paris.
“The key factor is pilot training time, and so we’re going to propose to President Zelenskyy that pilots be trained as early as this summer — it normally takes five to six months — so that by the end of the year they’ll be able to fly these aircraft,” Macron said, adding that the Ukrainian pilots will be trained in France.
During the same interview, Macron said that Ukraine can use French arms to attack locations in Russia from where the country is being targeted, including Russian territory, in a decision similar to the one the United States took last month.
“The limit is set by what the Russians do,” the French President said. “We’re not the ones who decide now that we’re going to change our methods and attack Ukraine from Russian soil.”
Macron’s announcement was not surprising considering that France became one of the main arms suppliers to Kiev forces after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine more than two years ago.
Mirage 2000-5 could help keep the Ukrainian Air Force, which has already lost most of its fighter jets, operational. However, just like the F-16s Kiev is awaiting, the French fighter jets are outdated compared to their Russian rivals and will not likely change the balance in the Ukrainian skies.
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