Ukraine will receive Mirage 2000 aircraft very soon, the French Foreign Minister announced during his visit to Kyiv.
Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, confirmed his country’s intention and announced the timeframe for Ukraine to receive Mirage 2000 fighter jets. He said this at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga.
«The first Mirage-2000 aircraft will be delivered to Ukraine early next year. France will also train pilots for these aircraft,» Barrot said.
The minister also spoke about the training of the Ukrainian military brigade Anna Kyivska in France and assistance in repairing equipment damaged in combat. At the beginning of the visit, Jean-Noël Barrot paid tribute to the fallen defenders of Ukraine at the Wall of Memory on Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv.
Another important message from the minister was a statement of France’s support for the Peace Plan presented by President Zelenskyy:
«We support the Victory Plan because we have been with Ukraine for about a thousand days and have been making the necessary efforts.
…
Efforts should be made to ensure that the peace plan proposed by Mr. Zelensky involves as many countries as possible in its implementation».
The Mirage 2000 multi-role, single-engine French fighter jet was developed by Dassault Aviation in the 1970s and put into service in 1984. More than 600 aircraft have been produced, 315 are in service in France, and 286 have been exported. The aircraft has received several modifications:
- Mirage 2000 — the first model
- Mirage 2000B — two-seat training and combat variant 2000C
- Mirage 2000C — single-seat fighter interceptor
- Mirage 2000D — strike fighter-bomber
- Mirage 2000E — multi-role fighter for export
- Mirage 2000ED — two-seat training and combat variant of the 2000 E
- Mirage 2000N — nuclear-capable strike fighter-bomber
- Mirage 2000R — single-seat reconnaissance vehicle
- Mirage 2000S — export version of the 2000D
- Mirage 2000-5 — modernized export version
- Mirage 2000-5 Mk 2 — improved version with more advanced radar, new computers and inertial navigation
- Mirage 2000-9 — export version of Mirage 2000-5 Mk 2
The aircraft reaches a speed of Mach 2.2 (~2340 km/h) at high altitude and Mach 1.2 (~1300 km/h) at low altitude. It is capable of operations within a radius of 1550 km at an altitude of up to 18 km. The Mirage 2000 has 9 weapon mounts, including «air — air» MBDA MICA IR/RF, Matra R550 Magic-II, Matra Super 530D, «air — surface» AM.39 Exocet guided missiles, SCALP EG, Crystal Maze, MBDA LR F4 unguided missiles, a wide range of guided and unguided bombs.
Sources: Ukrinform, Interfax-Ukraine, NV, Wikipedia
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