Who wants a free coffin from Mirage?
In the first lines you can immediately say: real. But almost disposable. Just like that, and then let’s start arguing.
In general, the Mirage 2000 is a very old aircraft. He began his service back in 1978 and is still serving, the only question is where and how.
And it’s immediately worth noting that the Dassault company did not indulge its clients with modifications. So, with the exception of the electronics that changed from time to time, this is still the same old Mirage from the 70s with all its shortcomings, the main of which is a more than modest set of weapons and a far from new radar.
But the airplane somehow quietly and peacefully survived until the present time. There weren’t enough stars in the sky, the stars were very far away, but our hero also flew in the air forces of countries that, let’s say, were not eager to go to the front line. The exception here is India; in the Air Force of this country, the Mirage-2000 participated in wars with Pakistan and carried out combat missions there. But again - on the sidelines.
But this plane succeeded in plane crashes. From 1978 to 2023, 59 cases of Mirage losses were recorded, but only TWO of them were due to combat reasons.
In August 1995, the Serbs, using Igla MANPADS, persuaded the Mirage to permanently land, and in 2016, rebels in Yemen somehow landed another plane. All other planes, like hamsters, self-destructed in a variety of ways that had nothing to do with the conduct of hostilities.
The Mirage 21 arrived in the 2000st century like a plane, as they say, of the third row. The French really didn’t bother themselves with modernizations, and users such as Peru, Qatar, Greece and Egypt didn’t particularly insist on them.
The only valuable moment was the adaptation of the aircraft to carry the high-precision SCALP missile. And this is, perhaps, the only trump card of the Mirage-2000 today. Otherwise, it is an outdated aircraft of the MiG-29 level, although in the Kargil the war It was the MiG-29s that covered the Mirages so that they wouldn’t be turned into cutlets by the Pakistani -16s.
And just the other day, Mr. Macron said that he would give Kyiv exactly these planes. AND weapon. And will train pilots.
In general, of course, it’s a sin to judge, but since his wedding Macron has not been considered adequate by everyone. That is, quite a long time ago. And this “strengthening” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Air Force is really something like this, because the “Mirages” will not be able to really portray anything.
Back in 2010, during the Garuda-2010 exercises, Mirage-2000 training battles took place against the Su-30MKI. India was represented at these exercises by aces from Squadron-2, really pilots of a very high, if not the highest, class. Before that, they quite successfully fought with the entire range of NATO fighters, including even the F-22, as part of the Red Flag exercises.
Indian pilots in the skies of France met not with newcomers, but with the same aces in terms of training, pilots of the Stork squadron, who were also helped by colleagues on Rafales. The Rafales did not take part in the battles then, but neutralized the advantage of the Su-30MKI in radars by illuminating Indian fighters with their radars.
Did not help. The Su-30MKI won all the battles against the Mirage-2000 with the Rafale behind it. As a result, Air & Cosmos magazine wrote a very laudatory article about Russian fighters, meaningfully titled in one word - “Power!”
And now THIS must go to Ukraine in order... And what about “in order”?
To do this, you need to understand how and with what Macron is going to benefit Zelensky. And to do this, it is enough to study the river that Macron pushed on the day of the 80th anniversary of the landing of the Allied troops in Normandy by the TF1 and France 2 channels.
“Peace cannot be achieved at the cost of Ukraine’s capitulation! Who dares to say that Russia will stop there? We are sure of the opposite, and Russia is on our borders.”
Of course, it would be very interesting to look at the faces of representatives of Germany, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland, which also border France, but, apparently, such passages from Macron no longer frighten anyone. Well, if Macron meant the borders of NATO, then everything is even more prosaic - it’s as if NATO ended up at the borders of Russia, and not vice versa.
But in Europe, which has finally gone somewhat wrong, such things are already common.
In addition, Macron announced that “Ukraine will receive enough support to resist, but in a way that avoids an escalation of the war. We are under no circumstances waging war with Russia and its people.”
An equally interesting point, that is, the European gentlemen will throw wood on the fire so that it burns, but does not burn out completely. And yes, France is not at war with the Russians! Therefore, Kyiv will receive Mirage 2000-5 aircraft, and France will train pilots for these aircraft.
And here everything is not smooth. It has already been leaked to the media that the so-called preparation will take six months. And thus, “by the end of the year the pilots will be ready for flights.”
In general, for the three hundred and thirty-third time we will not waste time on saying again that six months is nothing, that it is also necessary to train engine specialists, instrument technicians, gunsmiths, hydraulics and so on, because Ukrainian aviation If specialists approached, it was at exhibitions. This is all clear and understandable. Let's talk about the plane, since we've already finished talking about politics.
Macron promised to give back Mirage 2000-5. Yes, these are the XNUMXs, at the end of which the “fifth” went to the French Air Force, and in the export version to the Air Forces of Taiwan and Qatar.
In fact, this is nothing more than the Mirage-2000S with some changes.
The engine remained the same, at least, what are the differences between the SNECMA M53-P20 turbofan engine and the SNECMA M53-P2, only experts can say, because there are practically no differences in performance characteristics. The afterburner thrust increased by as much as 3 kN. Otherwise the performance characteristics are identical.
The avionics have been changed. In the “fifth” there were five multifunctional displays, which was not the case in 2000C. We installed a new RDY radar, which “looked” at 130 km, which is almost twice as much as the previous RDM radar. The radar made it possible to simultaneously track up to eight targets and fire at up to four of them. The new radar also had several air-to-surface operating modes.
Now some will begin to chuckle skeptically, but, first of all, let me remind you: this is 1992! And then everything looked pretty good. Now, of course, there is melancholy and sadness, but this is only the beginning of the circus performance!
The funny thing here is that almost half of the remaining 2000-5 aircraft in the French Air Force (including outside it, at the base in Djibouti) are 2000C and 2000-3 upgraded to this level! That is, we add another 10-12 years to the age.
Armament. The defense complex remained from 2000C, that is, at the level of the 80s of the last century. It was slightly improved for export sales, the difference being a new automatic machine for shooting heat traps. Otherwise, everything is the same, only the ICMS Mk 2 electronic warfare system was able to be placed inside the fuselage, which made it possible to move away from container placement and free up three suspension points.
The range of weapons also did not change much; MICA and SCALP missiles were added. Yes, it is valuable.
In general, the airplane is not bad, capable of satisfying not very strict demands. The Indian Air Force has been flying since 1982, and nothing! True, they are already in the role of bombers, but they fly and fight!
But this is India, which has been relying on French technology for a long time. But our case is a little different. We have a hodgepodge of aircraft that were awaiting disposal, but you know, it’s an expensive and troublesome business. Therefore, it is easier for Macron to make a nice gesture and give Kyiv a certain amount of aircraft junk, saving himself from the headache of disposal.
How many? It is not known for certain, but experts say that there are no more than 40 aircraft of these modifications left, scattered across different air bases and expectedly in varying degrees of combat readiness.
And here the question arises: what can the Mirage be used for in the conditions of Ukraine?
Let's start with the fact that the Mirage is food for Russian fighters and air defense systems. There will be no difficulties with its destruction, because the plane is not new and has long been prescribed in all textbooks and manuals. In addition, we are well aware of all the strengths and weaknesses of the Frenchman, and, as they say, on the subject.
Therefore, of course, we are not talking about any such operations to strike deep into Russian territory. This means an attack exclusively on the front line and the front-line zone, nothing more. SCALP? Perhaps, but the matter is quite risky, so again, they will work with cover and safe distances.
Regarding cover, the thought immediately arises of the supplied F-16s. Here Clearing the skies for the F-16 has begun a number of considerations were expressed, and, it must be said, not without basis. In fact, F-16s will be able to work quite well with Mirages, ensuring their relative safety, provided that arrangements are made to allow NATO aircraft to operate.
It turns out the following chain: counteraction to our air defense forces gives rise to the possibility of operation of F-16 fighters, which will be guided according to data from AWACS aircraft, strategic reconnaissance UAVs, satellites, and so on; Mirages will be able to use the same data when striking military targets. This is generally a serious situation, it has already been said that the NATO system for receiving intelligence data and issuing target designations to aircraft that can operate in it, or maybe F-16s and Mirage-2000s, can be effective.
But there is an unpleasant nuance here.
Firstly, who said that the idea of suppressing Russian air defense systems using combined strikes by UAVs and tactical missiles would fail? Yes, several complexes were lost, but there is something to cover them and, most likely, cover will be organized.
Secondly, the R-37 flew 200 km at a speed of 6 Mach and still flies. And the R-37M flies 300 km. And if earlier it was a miracle weapon that was carried exclusively by our monster MiG-31, now the Su-57, Su-35, and even the Su-30MK2 can be equipped with such a thing. Which is especially upsetting, because you can’t see from any satellite what’s hanging there under the wings, and whether it’s time to run away from the square, dropping the tanks. And the R-77 missile is not much inferior (if at all, it needs to be checked) to the best American AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, that is, even at close ranges not everything is so simple.
But the main thing is that Russian aircraft have the advantage of a “long arm”, and nothing can be done about it; NATO does not have missiles like the R-37M. When they appear, then we’ll talk, but for now the balance is somewhat not in favor of the Ukrainian side.
When it came to the use of F-16 fighters by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there was a case, I expressed the opinion that yes, their use is possible. Especially if there are modifications to Block 50/52, yes, these “Falcons” will flounder. There are chances.
But it’s very difficult to say what a French old man from the nineties can portray. But what can we say if its target radar has an EPR of 1 sq.m. gives a picture from 140 km, and the Su-35 radar does this from a distance of 270-300 km? He is practically blind, this “Mirage”!!!
It’s not for nothing that during the exercises that “Garuda-2010” the targets of “Mirage” were highlighted by “Rafale”, oh, not in vain! It is clear that the Mirage radar is no longer suitable for anything in a modern military conflict. And this is the main problem, although the hypothetical confrontation between French and Russian fighters is worth talking about separately.
So, that's kind of the bottom line. An old aircraft, originally from the seventies of the last century, modernized according to the level of technology of the nineties of the last century, with a frankly weak radar, with a small assortment of not very modern weapons, with extremely poorly trained pilots and even more poorly trained technical personnel - what is this? Weapons or just a way of free disposal?
Actually, it's more like the second one. Yes, the Mirage will be able to take on a SCALP suspension, fly up to the front line and launch there. Everything else will be done for him in terms of management from the relevant NATO command centers. But “carrying out a launch” is no longer an easy task. Undoubtedly, two Su-24s converted to Storm Shadow were able to cause some damage, but lately everything has been quiet and calm, no victory reports from that side.
We learned to neutralize. I agree, this is not easy, it requires well-coordinated efforts of many calculations and crews, but in reality nothing is impossible.
It would be good if a Ukrainian pilot could quietly, at low altitude, sneak up within launch range and fire a SCALP. And then try to go home. But what will happen if his Mirage falls into the field of view of Russian radars? How can you even fight enemy fighters if you are so blind that you cannot see them at the moment the missile is launched? And with the rocket itself, everything is not so simple...
In general, it was not in vain that the well-known poisonous journalists from the French Charlie Hebdo painted such a caricature that you saw at the very beginning. Even they understand perfectly well that a Mirage with an untrained (and 6 months is not a long time) pilot is really a guaranteed coffin for this very pilot.
However, should the French feel sorry for the Ukrainians?
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