The French air force has made a first operational deployment with its newly upgraded Dassault Aviation Mirage 2000D combat aircraft, sending a pair of the jets to support a security commitment in Djibouti.
Now designated the 2000D RMV, the modernised standard was commissioned into service in April 2025. Fifty aircraft will be brought up to the new configuration, with key features including enhanced cockpit, navigation and targeting capabilities.
The two-seat type is now armed with GBU-48 and GBU-50 laser-guided bombs, MBDA Mica IR short-range air-to-air missiles, and has a 30mm cannon for use during air policing missions.
Ordinarily flown from Nancy air base, the newly deployed jets are in Djibouti along with three French air force Mirage 2000-5F fighters.
The new combination “will participate in the defence of Djiboutian territory, its airspace and its territorial waters”, the service says. That commitment includes “securing strategic supply routes and guaranteeing freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden,” it adds.
