With the arrival of Mirage aircraft from donations from France, Ukraine could soon have its first fighter jet in the delta.
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The donation, if it happens, will be the result of agreements reached last year between Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron, under which France would have started (unofficially) training a contingent of Ukrainian pilots in the Mirage weapons system four months ago Bases: NancyOche, MontdeMorsan, Véliz and RomorantinLentenay.
According to the Aviacionline portal, a Ukrainian delegation traveled to France to finalize the details of the agreement to receive a still confidential number of Mirage 2000 fighter jets, with Kiev having the greatest interest in the 2000D version.
The Mirage 2000D is the twoseat version of the 2000C, which was already used by the FAB for a short time alongside the 2000B. However, unlike Version B, which is used in Brazil to train pilots who would fly Version C, the 2000Ds are optimized for low altitude flights and attack/ground support missions.
They can carry ASTAC electronic reconnaissance pods, advanced IR/CCTV/laser targeting pods, and fire SCALPEG/Storm Shadow cruise missiles and laserguided bombs.
France has 65 of these aircraft, which are undergoing midlife modernization to improve their airtoair and airtoground capabilities, as well as a complementary, tactile, centralized attack and navigation system that allows human access will facilitate human communication. and the machine.
Some of the French Mirage 2000Ds have been upgraded with VHFFM radios and the ROVER video transmission system, which, together with the Link 16 data link system, enable the secure exchange of information collected by the aircraft pods over the operational area with command centers or receive information from friendly forces Location.
These last features are likely to be the most interesting for the Ukrainian Air Force, as they can not only expand the number of platforms capable of launching the Storm Shadow/Scalp EG cruise missiles (previously used by the Su24), but also thanks to Link 16 It will also be able to receive realtime information from the various intelligence assets that NATO deploys to support Kiev and will be compatible with future F16 fighter jets that will receive it from countries such as Denmark or the Netherlands.