Ukraine receives first Mirage 2000 fighter jets from France

PARIS — Ukraine received the first Mirage 2000 fighter jets promised by France on Thursday, French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu said, giving the country its second type of Western aircraft in addition to F-16 jets handed over by allies last year.

The Mirage 2000 jets arrived with Ukrainian pilots on board, after several months of training in France, Lecornu said in a post on X . “They will now participate in defending the skies of Ukraine.”

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine posted an image of a Mirage 2000 taking off in Ukrainian livery and the text “Already in Ukraine.”

A major advantage of flying Western jets is their ability to interface with NATO ordnance such as the Scalp/Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles and guided bombs, as well as older air-to-air missiles that many of Ukraine’s allies have in stock. The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway delivered F-16s to Ukraine last year, with the Dutch planning to hand over another batch in 2025.

French President Macron had announced the plan to delivery French Mirage 2000 jets to Ukraine in June, without providing details at the time. France was planning to deliver a total of six Mirage 2000-5 to Ukraine, according to a budget document published in October on behalf of the National Assembly’s defense committee.

The first delivery to Ukraine would be a batch of three aircraft, armed with MBDA’s Mica air-to-air missiles and Scalp cruise missiles as well as Safran’s AASM Hammer guided bombs, French daily La Tribune reported in October. The aircraft is equipped with two 30 mm canons as well as nine hard points.

The Mirage 2000-5 is an air-superiority version, and the jets for Ukraine were being upgraded with new equipment for air-to-ground combat and defense against electronic warfare, Lecornu said in October. The Mirage 2000 D in use with the French Air Force is a ground-attack version.

The Mirage 2000 first flew in 1978, and an air-defense version entered the French forces in 1984. Dassault Aviation says it has produced 600 of the aircraft, with nearly half of them exported to eight countries including Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Greece and Taiwan.

The jet has a combat mass of 9.5 tons and a maximum take-off weight of 17.5 tons, a maximum speed of more than Mach 2.2 and can remain on station for 2 hours 40 minutes at a distance of 150 nautical miles from its departure base, according to Dassault Aviation.

France has been gradually replacing its Mirage fleet with Dassault Aviation’s Rafale, with the country planning to retire the Mirage 2000-5 from its forces in 2029 and the Mirage 2000 D in 2035.

The operating cost of a French Mirage 2000 is estimated to be around €17,000 per flying hour, according to a French senate report in October. A 2022 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found operating costs for the F-16 of $26,927 per flying hour in 2020.

Separately, Lecornu said parliament gave final approval to the French 2025 budget, with spending on defense increasing to €50.5 billion, an increase of €3.3 billion from last year. Major deliveries to the armed forces this year will include 14 Rafale jets, as well as 308 vehicles in the Scorpion program and lots of Aster air-defense missiles.

“Essential for our rearmament, this increased budget will enable us to continue modernizing our nuclear deterrent, improve the pay of our servicemen and women, and place the first orders for the new-generation aircraft carrier,” Lecornu said in a post on X .

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——法国武装部队部长塞巴斯蒂安·勒科尔努周四表示，乌克兰收到了法国承诺交付的首批幻影2000战斗机，这是继去年盟军交付的F-16战斗机之后，乌克兰拥有的第二种西方飞机。

勒科尔努在X网站上发帖称，幻影2000战斗机载着乌克兰飞行员抵达，他们此前在法国接受了数月的训练。“他们现在将参与保卫乌克兰领空。”

乌克兰国防部发布了一张幻影2000战斗机身披乌克兰涂装起飞的照片，并配文“已抵达乌克兰”。

西方战机的一大优势在于其能够与北约武器系统兼容，例如“风暴阴影”（SCALP/Storm Shadow）空射巡航导弹和制导炸弹，以及乌克兰许多盟国库存的老式空空导弹。荷兰、丹麦和挪威去年向乌克兰交付了F-16战机，荷兰计划在2025年交付另一批。

法国总统马克龙6月宣布了向乌克兰交付法国幻影2000战斗机的计划，但当时并未透露具体细节。根据乌克兰国民议会国防委员会10月发布的一份预算文件，法国计划向乌克兰交付共计6架幻影2000-5战斗机。

据法国《论坛报》10月份报道，首批交付乌克兰的将是三架飞机，配备MBDA公司的“云母”（Mica）空空导弹、“风暴阴影”（Scalp）巡航导弹以及赛峰集团的AASM“铁锤”（Hammer）制导炸弹。该型飞机还配备两门30毫米机炮和九个外挂点。

幻影2000-5是空中优势型战机，莱科尔努在10月份表示，交付给乌克兰的战机正在升级，加装用于空对地作战和电子战防御的新设备。法国空军使用的幻影2000D是地面攻击型战机。

幻影2000战斗机于1978年首飞，其防空版本于1984年加入法国军队。达索航空公司表示，已生产了600架该型飞机，其中近一半出口到包括巴西、阿拉伯联合酋长国、希腊和台湾在内的八个国家。

据达索航空公司称，该喷气式飞机的作战质量为 9.5 吨，最大起飞重量为 17.5 吨，最大速度超过 2.2 马赫，可在距离起飞基地 150 海里处保持 2 小时 40 分钟的飞行时间。

法国一直在逐步用达索航空公司的阵风战斗机替换其幻影机队，该国计划在 2029 年从其部队中退役幻影 2000-5，并在 2035 年退役幻影 2000 D。

根据法国参议院10月份的一份报告，法国幻影2000战斗机的运营成本估计约为每飞行小时17000欧元。美国政府问责局2022年的一份报告显示，F-16战斗机2020年的运营成本为每飞行小时26927美元。

勒科尔努还表示，议会已最终批准法国2025年预算，国防开支将增至505亿欧元，比去年增加33亿欧元。今年向法国武装部队交付的主要装备包括14架“阵风”战斗机、308辆“蝎子”装甲车以及大量“紫菀”防空导弹。

“这项增加的预算对于我们的重新武装至关重要，它将使我们能够继续推进核威慑力量的现代化，提高军人的薪酬，并下达新一代航空母舰的首批订单，”莱科尔努在 X 网站上发帖说。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。