Oleksandr Topchyi 17:00, 02.03.23

The issue of the transfer of 12 fighters, which were decommissioned and put into storage in the summer of 2022, is being discussed.

France is considering the transfer of Mirage 2000 fighters to Ukraine and may start training Ukrainian pilots in Poland.

According to VMFTV , this information was confirmed by the head of the Ministry of Defense of the country, Sebastian Lecornu. He admitted that negotiations with Kyiv are underway, but did not confirm either the transfer or the training of the flight crew.

According to him, the issue of the transfer of 12 fighters, which were decommissioned and put into storage in the summer of 2022, is being discussed.

The minister clarified that difficulties with the transfer of aircraft are related to logistics, training and the possibility of their maintenance. “All this is in time horizons, which are clearly not short-term,” Lecornyu noted.

It is noted that the French Air Force currently has 195 fighters (96 Rafale and 99 Mirage 2000 series 5, C and D). The Navy has an additional 40 aircraft. As part of the “all Rafale” strategy aimed at modernizing the combat aircraft fleet and standardizing it to simplify maintenance and logistics, Mirage aircraft are being phased out. And if the Mirage-5s are destined to be scrapped because they are too old, a dozen decommissioned Mirage 2000-Cs still have potential.

Arms for Ukraine – supply of fighter jets

As reported by UNIAN, France is one of the leading suppliers of weapons to Ukraine for defense against Russian invasion. In particular, the French provided Ukraine with field artillery , including self-propelled howitzers, air defense systems, and armored vehicles. Also, Paris promised to transfer AMX-10 RC wheeled armored vehicles to Kyiv , and President Emmanuel Macron instructed the Ministry of Defense to study the issue of supplying Leclerc tanks.

However, in recent weeks, the supply of Western fighter jets to Ukraine has been actively discussed. Thus, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, stated that Ukraine is working on obtaining the first squadron of foreign combat aircraft. And the head of the National Assembly Committee on National Defense and the Armed Forces of France, Thomas Gasillud, allowed the possibility of starting deliveries of fighter jets to Ukraine , but on the condition that this does not provoke an escalation of the war and does not harm the security of Europe and France itself.

As for F-16 fighter jets, the President of the United States , Joe Biden, recently said that Ukraine “does not need them now” . However, according to CNN, high-ranking military leaders privately admit that F-16s will help Ukraine win the war .

(C)UNIAN 2023