A French Mirage 2000 fighter jet has disappeared without a trace.
According to France Info, on January 9th, a French Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jet unexpectedly disappeared from ground-based radar screens.
Sources from the French Air Force indicate that there were two people on board the Mirage 2000 when it went missing, and it departed from Nancy-Osh air base just before noon on January 9th. Contact was lost when the fighter jet flew over the Jura Mountains in eastern France. Immediately after losing contact with the Mirage 2000, authorities launched a search for the aircraft.
It is currently unclear whether the missing aircraft belongs to the version that the French Air Force announced it would retire. This is because, shortly before this, the Global Defense New Network reported that France would retire its entire fleet of Mirage 2000 fighter jets.
|
| Mirage 2000 fighter jet. |
The information, upon its release, caused a major shock because the Mirage 2000 is considered an icon of the French Air Force, and although the more advanced Rafale now exists, this fighter jet still plays a pivotal role.
It was later clarified that France was not retiring all of its Mirage 2000 fighter jets, but only the Mirage 2000N variant, which is used for its strategic nuclear forces.
The French nuclear deterrent force will soon receive the nuclear-powered version of its most advanced fighter jet, the Dassault Rafale; replacing the Mirage 2000N with the Rafale is feasible as the required number is not large.
Rafale fighters possess far more advanced technical and tactical capabilities than the Mirage 2000N; they can perform very low-altitude penetration maneuvers with greater reliability, and also carry a larger weapons payload.
Thanks to the upgraded Rafale squadron for nuclear missile missions, France's deterrence capabilities will be significantly greater than they are currently, especially after Russia recently announced the equipping of MiG-31 fighters with the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile. However, the unit price of the Rafale replacement appears too high, making sufficient production impossible.
Not only in France, but Mirage 2000 fighter jets are also serving in many air forces around the world for many more decades, and are considered to still meet the needs of modern warfare.
