The final era of operations for the
2000Ns started during Opération
‘Chammal’ against the so-called Islamic
State in Iraq and Syria. The aircraft
identified to participate received a KY100
encryption module for their radios. At the
end of July 2015, three jets deployed to
H5 air base in Jordan. Once again, they
worked with 2000Ds for laser designation
support as well as with remotely piloted
air vehicles of the US military. In total,
2000Ns deployed five times to the
region, flew 400 sorties in which they
accumulated 2,000 flight hours, and
employed 186 GBU-12s. It also markedthe first time the configuration with four
GBU-12s on the centerline was used.
For the Mirage 2000N and its sister
D-model, the ‘Chammal’ tasking ended
in late August 2016. However, one last
commitment ran from April 2017 to
March 2018 as the aircraft made five
deployments to N’Djamena, Chad, as part
of Opération ‘Barkhane’. From Libya to the
Sahel-Saharan belt, via Iraq, the Mirage
2000N had accumulated more than
1,300 combat missions over seven years,
dropping 350 laser-guided GBU-12s in
combat. It marked a fitting finale for this
charismatic thoroughbred.2000N crews were expected to be able to
navigate without the use of such aids in
the event of having to mount operations
in a denied environment.
The ultimate K3-2R-standard Mirage
2000N came about as a result of
missions over Libya in 2011 as part of
Opération ‘Harmattan’. This campaign
underscored shortcomings in the
type’s self-protection capabilities and
added the Serval AS (Amélioration de la
Sensibilité — improvement to sensitivity)
radar warning receiver and Caméléon
command and control jamming system.
The Mirage 2000Ns operated over
Libya in partnership with 2000Ds. In the
wake of the conflict, those not upgraded
to K3 standard were dispatched to
Châteaudun to be stored or dismantled.
It was also the time when the ‘La Fayette’
squadron departed from Luxeuil for
Istres, which became the final 2000N
operating location.Above: A last
moment together
for the Mirage
family — a pair
of 2000Ns is
joined by a Mirage
2000C and
2000B from EC
2/5 at Orange.
Left: Around a
dozen Mirage
2000Ns were
retained into
August to cover
the nuclear
mission before
handing over to
the Rafale B.
Above right: The
transition from
ASMP to ASMP-A
was achieved on
the K3-standard
Mirage 2000N as
well as the F3-
standard Rafale B
and navy Rafale
M. SIRPA Air/
Cyril Amboisehttp://www.combataircraft.net // September 2018 77
72-77 Mirage Farewell C.indd 77 20/07/2018 11:36