The first Mirage 2000-5 combat aircraft that Paris sold to kyiv were delivered to Ukraine to help her defend his airspace against Russia, the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, announced on Thursday February 6. “Today, after several months devoted to the training of Ukrainian pilots in France, the first planes arrived in Ukraine,” he said on X, without specifying the number of devices in question. “With Ukrainian pilots on board, they will now participate in the defense of Ukraine’s sky,” he added.
Of the 26 copies of Mirage 2000-5 available to the Air Force and French Space, six aircraft must be sold to Ukraine, according to a budgetary report of the National Assembly published in the fall. A figure that the Ministry of the Armed Forces has neither confirmed, who says he maintains the vagueness for security reasons.
Modified for fighting
The sale of Mirage 2000-5, specializing in air combat, was announced in June 2024 by President Emmanuel Macron. Since then, Ukrainian pilots and mechanics have been trained in France on the aircraft and the planes have been changed. These included adding “Air-Sol combat” equipment to carry out operations of air strikes and “electronic anti-war defense” to resist the powerful Russian jamming, said Sébastien Lecornu in October.
The equipment has been added to the Cazaux air base (southwest), while the pilots and mechanics are formed on the basis of Nancy, in the east of France.
Ukraine, which is the subject of incessant bombings targeting in particular its energy infrastructure, claims more than air defense and combat aircraft. Several countries with American F-16 combat aircraft have already provided in kyiv. Norway notably delivered a first batch of F-16 out of the six it promised kyiv.