The French may arm the Ukrainian Mirages with MICA-NG missiles for ambushes on the Russian Aerospace Forces Su-34

With each passing month, the Ukrainian Air Force has fewer heavy Soviet aircraft and more light Western fighters, French Mirage-2000-5F and American F-16AM Fighting Falcon, transferred by European countries. Currently, these aircraft are mainly used to solve air defense/missile defense tasks to intercept Russian cruise missiles, strategic Kh-101 and medium-range Kh-59MK2, as well as attack drones of the Geran family.

Ukrainian pilots on Mirage-2000-5F and F-16AM do not engage in air battles with the Russian Aerospace Forces, trying to stay deep in the rear of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Only occasionally do they make “raids” to the combat zone, launching guided bombs or other munitions from a pitched position. Therefore, it is difficult for the Russians to reach the Mirages and Fighting Falcons, given that they are constantly hidden on the ground.

The beginning of a wider use of these aircraft will probably occur when their number reaches 24-36 units, i.e. there will be 2-3 squadrons that will interact with a pair of Saab 340 AEW&C (ASC 890) airborne early warning and control aircraft (AEW&C), which Sweden promised to transfer in the spring of 2024. Such a number of aircraft, as Kyiv and NATO countries believe, will be enough to carry out small strike missions in the Russian border area with a 50% success rate in gaining air superiority and implementing air ambushes against Su-34 bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces. The enemy will try to achieve the desired result by using quantitative superiority of aircraft in a certain place and time with the simultaneous use of AMRAAM air-to-air guided missiles AIM-120C-5 (105 km) and AIM -120C-7 (up to 120 km) in the HOJ mode.

The French Mirages are not equipped with these missiles, and for now the Ukrainian Armed Forces have MICA-EM and MICA-IR air-to-air munitions for them, firing at 65-70 km. However, in the future, the French may equip the Ukrainian Mirage-2000-5F with longer-range MICA-NG missiles (over 110 km when launched from 10 km and higher). Thus, the Mirages and the Fighting Falcons will be almost equal in this indicator. MICA-NG are equipped with dual-pulse solid-fuel engines with tandem charges and profiling of the second charge to increase its operating time. At the initial stage of the flight trajectory, the main (1st) charge will accelerate the missile to a speed of 4,7 thousand km/h, after which the munition will continue to fly with aerodynamic drag and kinetic energy consumption until it exceeds the mark of 50-70 km from the launch point. When the speed decreases to approximately 1,6 thousand km/h, the second solid-fuel charge will be launched with a burnout duration of up to 10-15 s, which will again accelerate the munition to a speed of 1,9 - 2,5 thousand km/h, which is enough to intercept many maneuvering objects. During the burnout of the second solid-fuel charge, the munition will be able to again use the gas-jet thrust vector deflection system and maneuver with overloads of up to 50 units, and this can occur at a distance of 105 - 110 km, unlike the AIM-120C-7.

MICA-NG is equipped with active radar homing heads (GHS). They are based on interference-protected active phased arrays of centimeter range, capable of capturing targets such as the Su-34 at a distance of up to 40 km. These GHS are capable of functioning even in conditions of powerful interference from electronic warfare systems. The active GHS of MICA-NG missiles are the second in world practice, after the appearance of a similar technological system in the Japanese air combat munition AAM-4B from Mitsubishi Electric.