French Mirage 2000N crashes in Chad
As reported by Sunnewsonline.com an Armée de l’Air (French Air Force) Mirage 2000N fighter bomber caught fire and crashed just after take-off from the airport of the Chadian capital Ndjamena in the morning of Sep. 28, 2017.
The aircraft was part of Operation Barkhane, the ongoing French anti-insurgent operation in Africa’s Sahel region.
As it can be seen in the pictures of this post the Mirage 2000N crashed into the airport wall next to the Ministry of Public Works. The crew members were able to eject from the aircraft, even if one of them would be slightly injured.
Operation Barkhane is the French pillar of counterterrorism in the Sahel region. It consists of a 3,000-strong French force permanent headquartered in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad. The operation involves also five countries (which actually are former French colonies) of the Sahel region: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. These countries are collectively referred to as the “G5 Sahel.”
The Dassault Mirage 2000N is the nuclear strike variant of Mirage 2000. A total of 75 Mirage 2000Ns were built. The first batch of 30 aircraft for the French Air Force had a sole nuclear capability, and these were designated Mirage 2000N-K1. The later batch of 44 aircraft were designated Mirage 2000N-K2. These had both a nuclear and conventional capability, and a full defensive fit. However also the K1 aircraft now have a limited conventional attack capability.
The aircraft features strengthened wings for low-altitude operations, as well as low-level precision navigation/attack systems, built around the Dassault/Thales Antilope 5 radar, which was designed for the strike role and featured a terrain-avoidance capability.
Two-seat strategic bomber
The Mirage 2000N, is a two-seat strategic bomber (a pilot and a navigator officer) in charge of the all-weather nuclear strike at very low altitude with automatic terrain tracking, it then had a medium-range nuclear missile (ASMP then ASMPA). Deployed on bases in Luxeuil and Istres, three squadrons maintained the permanent nuclear alert from 1988 until 2018.
Photo credit: unknown source via Alert 5 Facebook page
