Lesya Leshchenko14:50, 06/08/24

With the acquisition of such fighters, the combat capabilities of the Ukrainian aviation will become better, assures Petro Chernyk.

France will transfer its Mirage-2000 fighters to Ukraine. They were announced by the country’s president, Emmanuel Macron . France will also undertake the training of Ukrainian pilots for these aircraft. Training will also take place there. It is already known that the training program for Ukrainian pilots for these fighters will start in the summer. Military expert Petro Chernyk told UNIAN how “mirages” will strengthen the Ukrainian sky and the capabilities of the Defense Forces in protecting our country and repelling enemy attacks.

In what way and how will the combat capabilities of Ukrainian aviation change with the acquisition of Mirage 2000 aircraft?

Getting better. However, it is incorrect to say that something fundamental and very deep will change. In order for something fundamental and very profound to change, at least 40 such planes should be given. Mirage 2000 is nothing more than a French analogue of the F-16. F-16, of course, is better, more powerful, it has more missile load.

What is the combat capability of the Mirage 2000? What weapons can be there?

Mirage 2000 is designed primarily for Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles. We use them. But – with the Su-24M. So there is a difference. This is how to compare “native” spare parts in automotive technology. Storm Shadow is integrated in the Su-24M, but they were developed specifically for the Mirage 2000. But what will five “mirages” improve? Storm Shadow will not be used much. In order for something to really change on the front line, you need at least a few hundred Storm Shadows, I emphasize. And there are several dozen. Very good, let’s destroy some important target, some warehouse or bunker. Of course, all this reduces the potential of the enemy, but does not change the course of hostilities in a strategic sense.

Plus, the Mirage can work in interceptor mode – in a radius of about 40 kilometers, it has excellent missiles for this. This is a good weapon to deal with cruise missiles and Shaheds. Every piece of equipment that helps destroy something from the enemy is great. However, I repeat, this is not the number that can fundamentally change the situation.

What could have influenced Macron’s decision to make this announcement now, rather than a month or six months ago?

To be honest, in my opinion, the transfer of “mirages” is more of a political phenomenon. Macron demonstrates that his fear of Putin has personally disappeared. This is very important.

When can “mirages” be in Ukraine?

Macron declared at the end of the year. We hope that it will be so.

Macron said about the training of pilots on “mirages” for 5-6 months. Is that enough? And what is the peculiarity of this training? How is it different from F-16 training, which is quite long?

Yes, that is enough. There is no feature. 5-6 months to acquire basic skills is quite enough.

Why then is training on the F-16 taking so long?

There is a political moment. It’s obvious, the Americans are just in no hurry to hand them over. That is, this is a purely political moment, not a technical one.

Will the provision of the Mirage lead to an imbalance in the Ukrainian Air Force? Perhaps due to the fact that different types of aircraft are used, training is done differently, maintenance is different. Is it better to have one type of aircraft or, on the contrary, a variety of them?

We have one and a half dozen samples of Western equipment in the artillery. There is no imbalance. The more planes, the better. The coalition against Saddam Hussein in 1991 during the war in the Persian Gulf had 1,600 aircraft of various modifications. There can be no imbalance if the management system is properly built and people have acquired the right skills.

Considering these processes taking place in the Ukrainian sky (F-16 coalition, Mirage 2000, ACS-890 aircraft), can we say that the Ukrainian sky will be closed this year?

Forget such a phenomenon as the closing of the sky. It does not exist in nature, this is a false point of view. The only thing that can be said is the level of raising the whipping factor. It can be raised up to 98%, even in some cases – up to 100%. But all the same, there will be a “breakthrough” in the air, because there are no absolutely perfect schemes, they do not exist.

Mirage 2000 or F-16? What is more useful for our sky?

F-16 is the king. This is if you put, relatively speaking, Mercedes and Renault. Renault is a very good car, but in terms of technical characteristics, it cannot be compared with Mercedes. We need both. More is better. In our case, there cannot be too many weapons.

(c)UNIAN 2024