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France to hand over six Mirage 2000-5 jets to Ukraine — lawmaker

Frank Giletti asked to speed up the commissioning of previously ordered Rafale planes to the armed forces

PARIS, November 12. /TASS/. France plans to send six Mirage 2000-5 jets with "full logistical support" to Ukraine, Member of National Assembly Frank Giletti said in his report, prepared for the parliamentary committee on national defense and armed forces within the discussion of the national budget for 2025.

"In the short-term, the upcoming handover of six Mirage 2000-5 planes to the Ukrainian Air Force, along with full logistical support will only further strain our own fighter aviation capacity," says the document, published on the National Assembly website.

In this context, Giletti stated his concerns that the handover would "affect the [French] Air Force’s capability to perform its air defense duties," considering the "shaky readiness" of the planes, some of which are "significantly out of date." According to the lawmaker, the move will force regiments equipped with Rafale planes into increased duty, speed up the decommissioning of the Mirage 2000-5 and "restrict the training of pilots on Mirage 2000-Ds."

"The recent statement made by the President of France that several Mirage 2000-5 planes will be handed over to the Ukrainian armed forces in 2025, will only exacerbate the shortfall in capacity," the lawmaker claims.

In this regard, he asked to speed up the commissioning of previously ordered Rafale planes to the armed forces. At the same time, he underscored that the aviation production rate is "still far from meeting the expectations of ‘wartime economy’."

In early June, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris would begin training Ukrainian pilots and hand over Mirage 2000-5 planes to Kiev. He specified that the training of pilots will take five to six months and speculated that the delivery of planes may begin by the end of this year. In October, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu noted that the delivery of planes is scheduled for the first half of 2025.

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Ukraine crisis France

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