The Ukrainian Air Force will have one more fighter in addition to the F-16. France is expected to transfer an undisclosed quantity of Dassault Mirage 2000-5 jets to the country, President Emmanuel Macron announced.
The statement was made to French TV channels on Thursday, during the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, when the Allied landing in Normandy took place during the Second World War.
Macron did not provide a timetable, but said that by the end of the year Ukrainian pilots will be trained in flying the Mirage 2000.
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Regarding aircraft numbers, the French president only said that it will be equivalent to what other nations are sending. To date, there are around 85 F-16 fighters destined for Ukraine and which will be transferred to the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium.
Secondary role compared to Rafale
The French Air Force currently operates around 90 Mirage 2000 fighters, which play a secondary role compared to the more modern and capable Rafale.
There are stocks of decommissioned aircraft, but the number of units is unknown.
The Mirage 2000 is a multirole fighter that entered service in 1984 and around 400 aircraft were manufactured.
The 2000-5 variant emerged as a major update to the 2000C, with a more modern cockpit, more capable radar and a greater variety of armaments.
France has already been training Ukrainian pilots for a few months, who carry out instructional flights on Alpha Jets, but the introduction of a new aircraft should take some time, as can be seen in relation to the F-16, whose Ukrainian Air Force is already preparing to operating it for several months.
