French Mirage2000 Fighters are Headed to Ukraine

France’s announcement that it will send an asofyet unannounced number of Mirage 20005 fighter aircraft to Ukraine is a welcome boon for Kyiv likely to take part in both strike missions and protecting other airborne assets. French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a live interview on June 6 that the plane donation would be coming, an announcement that largely caught the world by surprise. However, discussions had been underway for months, with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy making mention of the possible Mirage deal with Paris as far back as February. The Dassault aircraft would potentially be the second western fighter aircraft to be flown by Ukraine’s armed forces, joining USmade F16s donated by Denmark, Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands, with the first batch of jets expected to arrive sometime this summer. In operating both types of aircraft, the Ukrainian Air Force (PSU) would be mirroring the force structure of Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Taiwan, all of which also have the two models in their inventories. Like Ukraine, Greece had no advanced combat aircraft in its air force prior to acquiring the F16 and Mirage 2000 but purchased both in the same year as part of a dualtracked modernization plan.