Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France would deliver Mirage 2000-5 fighter planes to Ukraine.
What are these devices built by Dassault Aviation?
Follow the full coverage
More than two years of war in Ukraine
This is an announcement that could be a game-changer. During an interview given Thursday June 6 to the 8 p.m. news on TF1 and France 2, Emmanuel Macron announced the sale of Mirage 2000-5 fighter planes during the year to kyiv. Of the “French combat aircraft which will allow Ukraine to protect its soil, its airspace”, declared the head of state. If the Mirage 2000, produced by the Dassault group, has existed since 1984, the Mirage 2000-5 entered service in 1999.
According to the website of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the 16.5-ton single-seater aircraft measures 14.6 m long and 5.2 m high. It can reach a speed of Mach 2.2, in other words 2.2 times the speed of sound. The specificity of the Mirage 2000-5? Equipped with air-to-air missiles, it is designed to intercept planes, and not to target ground targets as is, for example, the case with the Mirage 2000-D.
A plane that has an extremely efficient radar
Marion Buchet, aeronautics expert and former fighter pilot
The Mirage 2000-5 is equipped with a modernized cockpit as well as a radar with a greater range than other Dassault Aviation models. The Y Doppler Radar makes it possible to fire on several targets at the same time, with MICA anti-aircraft missiles (Missile for Interception, Combat and Self-Defense) which are also more modern. “It’s an aircraft that has an extremely capable radar, and can fire missiles in a ‘fire and forget’ manner. That is to say, you can fire the missile and you don’t need to illuminate the target with your radar, so you can maneuver and get away from the target”, explains Marion Buchet, aeronautics expert and former fighter pilot interviewed on LCI.
“It’s tactically something very important,” she continues. Will the Ukrainians be content with the defensive use of the Mirage 2000-5, or will they be able to adapt other missiles aimed at firing at ground targets? The question arises when Emmanuel Macron did not specify the number of devices that would be delivered to kyiv. Within the French army, there are currently 29 Mirage 2000-5s out of the 94 Mirage 2000s, all models combined. Worldwide, Qatar and Greece also have Mirage 2000-5s.
-
Read also
Emmanuel Macron announces the training of 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers and the sending of Mirage 2000-5 to kyiv
This fighter is frequently used by the Air Force for missions on national territory, but also in external operations. In November, France deployed four Mirage 2000-5s to the Šiauliai base, Lithuania, as part of the enhanced Air Policing (eAP) mission aimed at strengthening the sovereignty of the Baltic countries in their airspaces. “We are going to propose to President Zelensky that the pilots be trained this summer, it normally takes 5 to 6 months” for this, Emmanuel Macron clarified Thursday evening, adding that these pilots would be trained in France.
