According to some recently released open sources, Ukraine, thanks to agreements between the Presidents of France and Ukraine, will be able to form the first squadron of its Air Force by the end of January this year, armed with French multi-role Mirage 2000-5F fighter jets. They will begin the process of bringing this aviation unit to the necessary combat readiness level (the ability to perform the full range of combat tasks expected for this type of combat aircraft). According to various estimates and reports, the squadron may consist of 6 or 8 planes.
As I understand it, these aircraft will be transferred to Ukraine from the French Air Force, as they are being gradually replaced by the more modern Rafale F3-R.
I won't go into the details of their tactical and technical characteristics (TTH) in the modification that will be delivered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Specialists and experts have already written about this, but I would like to draw your attention to one important feature of these aircraft, which should make them an important component of our armed forces, expanding their combat capabilities.
Yes, I am referring to their ability to strike ground targets. First of all, with the same Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missiles, for which our armed forces already have some experience in using.
At the same time, it should be emphasized that the strike capabilities of this aircraft (belonging to the 4+ category) are not limited to the use of the standard low-visibility cruise missiles, which were developed, among other things, specifically for this aircraft. They can also deliver quite effective strikes with other air-to-surface weapons. And what is very important, these weapons are long-range, which is crucial in the context of the Russia’s extensive and layered air defense systems.
For example, against the Russian air defense systems with anti-radiation missiles (ARM) such as the AS37 Armat (with a range of 110-120 km), guided (gliding) bombs (AASM Hammer), which, during 2024, were reported by French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu to have been supplied in quantities of 600 units, or anti-ship missiles (ASM) like Exocet (which has a semi-armor-piercing warhead with 165 kg of explosives), which can be used against both Russian ships and radar-sensitive ground targets.
In other words, the role of this aircraft in our Air Force is more of a strike aircraft rather than a fighter.
However, it is also possible to use it for air defense (especially for intercepting long-range cruise missiles and strike UAVs), due to one feature of this Mirage — its onboard radar very effectively and accurately detects low-flying air targets against the ground.
It’s no secret to us, nor to Russia, that our fleet of attack aircraft (Su-25 attack aircraft and Su-24 bombers) is obviously small and has a fairly critical "flight time" resource, both for the airframe and onboard equipment (which is not surprising, given the age of these aircraft, manufactured during the Soviet era, which can be described as venerable). Furthermore, not all of them are combat-ready for various reasons.
Therefore, the arrival of the French Mirages, with significant strike capabilities, even if "previously used," will likely improve the situation to some extent.