France will deliver the promised Mirage fighter jets to Ukraine in the first quarter of 2025, French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Tuesday.
Lecornu said the jets are currently being equipped with new equipment, including air-to-ground combat capabilities to carry out airstrikes and electronic defence equipment to counter Russian jamming signals.
He added that training for Ukrainian pilots and mechanics in France would continue.
Lecornu did not specify the number of Mirage jets that France and other countries plan to send to Ukraine as part of a joint initiative.
French President Emmanuel Macron promised at the beginning of June to send the aircraft to Ukraine, which has been defending itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion since February 2022.
The Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets are designed primarily for air defence and can be used to deploy the French-British Scalp/Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which have already been delivered to Ukraine.
France’s air force plans to retire the fighter jets by 2030 and replace them with modern Rafale jets. It has 40 of the Mirage 2000-5s and the aircraft type has already been exported to other countries.
