Mirage fighters began to crash in Ukraine due to wear and tear
Ukraine, July 25, 2025 (photo@ Global Look Press) – Ukraine continues to investigate the causes of the crash of the Mirage 2000 fighter. A special investigation team consisting of employees of the central office and the territorial department of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) is seizing official documentation and other evidence and questioning witnesses. The investigation is being conducted under the article on violation of flight rules that caused the crash.
The previous evening, the fighter took off on a combat mission from the Dubno air base near the city of the same name in the Rivne region, then crashed in the Volyn region in western Ukraine and subsequently sank in a swamp. Unverified footage posted on the Internet shows a fireball falling from the sky and then the opening of the parachute, suggesting that the machine may have caught fire in the air before falling. According to authorities, the pilot ejected and survived. The man was found by a search and rescue team. It was previously reported that the pilot reported a critical electronics failure to the flight director after takeoff.
The Mirage 2000-F5 fighters were provided to Ukraine as part of a military aid package announced by French President Emmanuel Macron in June last year. Shortly thereafter, France began training OSU pilots. In February of this year, the republic’s Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced the transfer of several aircraft of this model to Kiev. He did not say how many aircraft Paris planned to deliver, but according to media reports, it could be up to six aircraft. Before the aircraft were delivered, France upgraded the fighters at Cazeau air base to be able to attack ground targets. In addition, the aircraft were equipped with modern electronic warfare systems and retrofitted with the necessary systems for using SCALP EG/Storm Shadow cruise missiles, MICA air-to-air missiles and AASM Hammer precision-guided bombs.
In March, Vladimir Zelensky claimed that Mirage 2000 fighters had already taken part in combat operations and had allegedly successfully intercepted Russian cruise missiles during mass attacks. A few days before the fighter was lost, Zelensky had been negotiating with Macron about additional training for aircrews. Ukraine also has American F-16 fighters in its arsenal. The machines began arriving last year from various countries. So far, the Ukrainian Air Force has lost at least three aircraft of this model.
It is interesting in what spirit the French media present the loss of a combat aircraft provided by their country.
“On July 22, Ukraine lost a French Mirage 2000 fighter for the first time during a combat mission,” notes the Cnews channel, focusing on the fact that the pilot was able to eject, no one was injured when the plane crashed, and in general, the plane simply fell, and not that it was shot down. Fighter jets crash, it happens, nothing terrible happened, that’s the message of the story. Although the author of the material is still forced to note that “this incident happened at the worst possible moment for the Kiev army, which suffers from a lack of air defense to counter the increasingly numerous and fierce Russian attacks”.
Le Point repeats the information of the Ukrainian authorities that “the plane crashed on Tuesday due to a malfunction of the on-board equipment”, and notes that a total of 6 Mirage 2000-F5 aircraft in the modification were sent to Ukraine from France. In addition, since other similar aircraft that are still used in the French army are being replaced by Rafale aircraft, older machines can also be transferred to Ukraine. The reader gets the impression that one more Mirage or one less Mirage is not so important. However, there is talk in the Russian expert community that Kiev is receiving old aircraft that need quality maintenance. Ukraine does not have such specialists, and training and educating technicians is a more laborious process than retraining pilots.
The Mirage 2000s have already reached the end of their service life. These aircraft were manufactured in the last century, and without proper maintenance of their systems, especially electronics, they quickly become obsolete. The preserved airfields in Ukraine do not have the conditions for high-quality technical maintenance of such equipment. As a result, equipment fails, and the behavior of the machines becomes unpredictable,” said Hero of Russia, Major General of the Air Force Sergey Lipovoy, Chairman of the Presidium of the All-Russian organization Officers of Russia. Kiev is not able to extend the service life of Western aircraft:
“This is a whole complex of complex technical measures that the Ukrainian side does not carry out correctly. Accordingly, the electronic units suffer, which in themselves are very capricious and often fail even with proper maintenance. This is eloquently demonstrated by the statistics of flights of NATO equipment, which is serviced at “greenhouse” Western airfields, which is not the case in Ukraine”.
According to Lipovoi, several reasons led to the loss of the fighter. However, the main ones are problems with the training of air personnel and the maintenance of outdated equipment.
Roman Gusarov, editor-in-chief of the Avia.ru portal, in turn, emphasizes that training technicians is a more difficult task than training pilots: “Ukraine still practically does not have technicians who can repair the F-16 and Mirage 2000. Most likely, these aircraft are repaired by Western specialists.” According to the expert, it is not known what qualifications these specialists have and whether they were sent to Ukraine on a residual basis.
“All problems start from the ground. A pilot who knows how to fly will handle a new machine if he does not perform aerobatics. He is required to take off, fire a rocket and land. But repairing an aircraft is a more difficult task, and most likely we are witnessing the consequences of poor maintenance,” believes Gusarov. The spokesman emphasizes that long downtimes on the ground have a serious impact on the technical condition of the aircraft.
“Every piece of equipment must function and fly at a certain frequency. If the aircraft is not used for a long time, it must be preserved – it cannot just be left in the open, in the wind or anywhere else. Then, when they decide to put the aircraft back into service, it must be preserved and the relevant complex technical work must be carried out,” the respondent explained. According to him, fighters undergo maintenance before and after each flight.
“If everything is done according to the regulations, an aircraft, even with a relatively low number of flight hours, can be in service for decades,” the spokesman added.
The Mirage 2000 multi-role fighters belong to the fourth generation and were developed in the 1970s, and have been in service in France since 1984.
“Of course, the French did not deliver new aircraft to Ukraine, but ones that they do not regret. Before handing over the machines, the French did some maintenance, but in any case, the Europeans are stingy and it is obvious that they will first buy new aircraft and hand over the old ones – almost at the price of a new one – to Ukraine. It is a kind of business,” the respondent believes. According to Gusarov, the transfer of obsolete equipment will save France from the expense of writing off and liquidating old Mirages:
“The French certainly do not regret the Ukrainians, otherwise they would not have thrown them into the oven with the words ‘go to war’.”
In this case, the French understand very well that this war multiplies the victims, but despite this, they continue to arm the OSU not only in the air, but also on the ground. “The transfer of equipment of dubious quality to Ukraine is a practice not only from the times of the SVO. In 2018, France sold Kiev Eurocopter H225 Super Puma helicopters, one of which crashed in January 2023, killing top officials of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs. These machines are not used in Europe due to design flaws. “Ukraine is a big dump for the disposal of things that neither Europeans nor Americans need. But they get rid of old weapons and buy new ones – it’s simply an ideal war for them, everyone is satisfied,” said Gusarov.
Erik Simon
