Latest news with #Mirage2000-5
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Macron to meet Trump as Europe scrambles to respond to US shift on Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron is expeced to meet Donald Trump at the White House next week, a US official said Wednesday, as Europe scrambles to respond to the US president's shift on the war in Ukraine. "President Macron is expected at the White House early next week," a White House official told the French news agency AFP Wednesday evening on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky also said last night, Wednesday, that he will meet US envoy Keith Kellogg on Thursday and is hoping for "constructive" work with the US. "We are scheduled to meet with General Kellogg tomorrow, and it is very important for us that the meeting and our work with America in general be constructive," Zelensky said in his daily evening address on Wednesday. European fears mount at Munich conference as US signals shift on Ukraine Europe and Ukraine This as French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday held a new meeting on Ukraine in a bid to coordinate a European response to what he called an "existential threat" from Russia after a shock policy shift in Washington. Macron was speaking to leaders of 19 countries including Canada, with most taking part by video link, according to the presidency. European 'frustration' Difficult choices Read more on RFI EnglishRead also:French president Macron warns against 'capitulation' in Ukraine peace dealFrance delivers first Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to Ukraine amid uncertainty over US supportBiden calls on European allies to maintain backing for Ukraine
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
French Fighters Downed 'Nearly A Dozen Drones' In Red Sea Combat
French Air and Space Force Mirage 2000-5F and Rafale fighters shot down 'nearly a dozen drones' in recent combat operations over and around the Red Sea, the head of that service has confirmed. The announcement comes soon after the first French-supplied Mirage 2000-5Fs arrived in Ukraine, where they will be expected to face similar threats, in the form of Russian-operated long-range one-way attack drones. 'In the Air and Space Force, both the Mirage 2000-5 and the Rafale recently demonstrated their effectiveness against Shahed-type suicide drones, against which Ukrainian pilots will have to fight,' Jérôme Bellanger, the Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force wrote on LinkedIn yesterday. Bellanger continued: 'I salute our combat crews engaged in operations, who recently destroyed nearly a dozen drones, notably in the Red Sea. The quality of our weapons systems and the expertise of our crews have once again demonstrated their operational effectiveness.' Bellanger also posted a brief video from the head-up display of a French Rafale, showing the close-range interception and engagement of a Houthi drone using an air-to-air missile. (Note that in the caption for the video below, the fighter is misidentified as a Mirage 2000, but the electro-optical sensor characteristic to the Rafale is visible when illuminated by the missile's motor). The exact total of Houthi drones that were downed by the French fighters was not disclosed and TWZ has approached the French Ministry of Defense for more details, including the dates of these incidents. The French Air and Space Force has a permanent detachment of Mirage 2000-5F fighters in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, from where they would be ideally positioned to intercept drones over the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Rafales have been deployed on a rotational basis at Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan, as well as at Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates, both of these primarily in support of Operation Chammal, the French contribution to the anti-ISIS mission in Iraq and Syria. Both the Mirage 2000-5 and the Rafale are primarily armed with MBDA MICA air-to-air missiles for air defense, with these beyond-visual-range weapons being available with optional radar-homing or infrared seeker heads. Both fighters also have cannon armament, with the Mirage having a pair of 30mm DEFA weapons and the Rafale being armed with a single GIAT weapon of the same caliber. The Iranian-backed Houthis began launching drone, missile, and other attacks against foreign warships and commercial vessels in and around the Red Sea, as well as targets in Israel, in October 2023, and fighters from various nations have been prominently involved in tackling some of these threats. The fact that French fighters had been involved in shooting down Houthi drones over and around the Red Sea had been disclosed before, although the French Ministry of Defense provided very few details. During a large-scale Houthi attack on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden on March 9, 2024, the French Armed Forces stated that one of its warships and undisclosed French fighters shot down four combat drones that were advancing toward naval vessels belonging to the European Aspides mission in the region. A video showing the French Navy class frigate during a Red Sea deployment last year: The drones presented 'an imminent threat to merchant vessels, U.S. Navy, and coalition ships in the region,' the French Ministry of Defense said in a post on social media platform X. Later the same month, the French Armed Forces released a video showing the downing of a Houthi drone over the Red Sea by a French Navy helicopter, using machine gun fire. 'On March 20, while conducting close protection under EUNAVFOR Aspides in the Red Sea, the embarked helicopter of a French destroyer shot down a Houthi UAV threatening the commercial navigation,' the official Aspides account said on X. EUNAVFOR ASPIDES | Interception par l'hélicoptère de la frégate d'un drone aérien en provenance du Yémen menaçant le trafic maritime civil en mer Rouge. La priorité: assurer la liberté de navigation et la sûreté maritime de Suez à Ormuz — Armée française – Opérations militaires (@EtatMajorFR) March 20, 2024 Aside from these actions involving aircraft, the French Navy has also shot down multiple Houthi drones within these same waters since becoming an active player in the Red Sea in December of 2023. For a time, France was part of the international, U.S.-led task force Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG), launched in that same month to combat the threat of Houthi missiles and drones on commercial shipping. France subsequently said it would not operate under U.S. command, amid possible strains in the relationship, as we reported previously. Since then, France has conducted its mission in the region as part of the Aspides task force. Unlike OPG, Aspides was set up as a purely defensive task force. Returning to fighters being used to counter Houthi drones, TWZ recently broke the news that U.S. Air Force F-16s have been using 70mm laser-guided rockets to down these during operations in and around the Red Sea in the past year. This involves the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets, originally developed to engage targets on the ground, but now also employed as lower-cost, more numerous air-to-air weapons. So far, officials have not confirmed how many of the rockets have been used in this manner, how many Houthi drones have been shot down as a result, or when this capability was first used in combat. The extent of the Houthis' mass drone and missile attacks has, on occasion, seen fighters having to land to reload with missiles while threats were still flying overhead. With primary air-to-air weapons being rapidly expended, the crew of at least one U.S. Air Force F-15E was forced to switch to guns after running out of missiles but did not succeed in downing any targets. For the French Mirage 2000-5F, the combat employment against the Houthi drone threat has provided something of a proving ground for the next stage of the type's career in Ukraine. As you can read about here, the first Mirage 2000-5Fs, taken from French stocks, arrived in Ukraine last week. The delta-winged jet is the second Western-made fighter type for Ukraine, following the arrival of the F-16, the first of which arrived in Ukraine last summer. Three photos showing unmarked Mirage 2000-5Fs over Poland, apparently on their delivery flight to Ukraine: Ex-French Mirage 2000-5 Multirole Fighters spotted recently over Poland, heading towards Ukraine; with the first of several Mirages said to have turned over to the Ukrainian Air Force on February 5th. — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 7, 2025 The Ukrainian Mirages are receiving new air-to-ground capabilities before being delivered, but the aircraft was primarily developed for air defense. The Mirage 2000 can take off in a relatively short distance and has a very impressive rate of climb, as well as a top speed of Mach 1.6 even when carrying missiles and a fuel tank. With a single external fuel tank, the Mirage 2000-5F can also patrol for 1 hour and 45 minutes, provided use of the afterburner is limited. With these qualities in mind, it's expected that the fighters will help contribute to the protection of Ukrainian cities and infrastructure against Russian drone and cruise missile attacks. In these missions, they will face Iranian-designed Shahed long-range one-way attack drones and derivatives, very similar to at least some of the drones that have been used by the Houthis. 'The Ukrainian Air Force has new, combat-proven capabilities to carry out this air combat,' Bellanger, the Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force, commented, in relation to the Mirage 2000-5F transfer. While the Mirage 2000-5F continues to complement the Rafale with the French Air and Space Force and appears to have found something of a niche for itself intercepting drones in the Red Sea region, we surely won't have to wait too long for the first reports of the venerable fighter flying combat missions with the Ukrainian Air Force, too. Contact the author: thomas@
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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.
Local France
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Local France
France delivers first Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Ukraine
"The first of these aircraft have arrived in Ukraine today," Lecornu said on X, without saying how many had been delivered. After France helped train Ukrainian pilots over recent months, "they will now help defend Ukraine's skies", he added. Last June, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would transfer Mirage 2000-5 aircraft to Ukraine and train their Ukrainian pilots as part of military cooperation with Kyiv. Of the 26 Mirage 2000-5 aircraft owned by the French air force, six were to be transferred to Ukraine, according to a budget report published by France's National Assembly lower house. The French defence ministry neither denied nor confirmed the figure for security reasons. Ukrainian pilots and mechanics have been trained in eastern France to use the jets, which have undergone modifications including to combat Russian jamming. France announced the delivery of the first fighter jets as talk of a negotiated end to the nearly three-year war has risen with Donald Trump back in the White House and Ukraine's troops struggling on the battlefield in the east.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
First Mirage fighter jets arrive in Ukraine, French defence minister says
French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu has announced that France delivered the first Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Ukraine, which were announced to be delivered in 2024. Source: Lecornu on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda Quote: "The first of these aircraft arrived in Ukraine today. On board these jets are Ukrainian pilots who have spent a lot of months training in France and will now join the defence of Ukrainian sky." Details: Lecornu recalled that on 6 June 2024 Emmanuel Macron announced the delivery of French Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Ukraine. Lecornu did not specify how many jets had arrived in Ukraine. Background: Lecornu had stated that the delivery of the fighter jets to Ukraine was scheduled for the first quarter of 2025. French journalists learned that the first batch of Mirage 2000-5s for Ukraine would consist of three aircraft. French President Emmanuel Macron previously announced that France would organise six-month pilot training courses for operating the Mirage 2000-5, starting in the summer of 2024. Support UP or become our patron!
