Mirage 2000s Could Become Kyiv’s Most Important Aerial Radar Jammers

The United States can’t just switch off the U.S.-designed Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters that are re-equipping the Ukrainian air force. But the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has halted U.S. aid to Ukraine, including vital support for the F-16s’ radar jammers.

That could deprive the Ukrainian air force of its most important aerial countermeasures at a critical moment in Russia’s three-year wider war on Ukraine. But the Ukrainians aren’t powerless—and they still have allies. They could shift the burden of aerial jamming onto the Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters they’re getting from France.

A consortium of European countries—Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium—pledged 85 flyable F-16s to Ukraine back in 2023; the first 18 or so have arrived and one has crashed, possibly after being mistakenly targeted by a Ukrainian missile battery.

The nimble, supersonic fighters enjoyed strong U.S. support under the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden. The Americans helped train pilots, provided spare parts and munitions and also assigned a U.S. Air Force team to program the F-16s’ underbelly AN/ALQ-131 electronic countermeasures pods.

The AN/ALQ-131 is a new and critical capability for the Ukrainian air force, which entered the wider war in February 2022 without significant aerial jammers. That exposed Ukrainian jets to withering Russian missile fire—and resulted in heavy losses early on. The Ukrainians have written off nearly 100 jets, many of them in the chaotic early weeks of the wider Russian invasion.

Ukraine’s F-16s are much better-equipped than the country’s pre-war force of ex-Soviet MiG and Sukhoi fighters—and much more capable of protecting themselves and nearby jets from Russian air defenses. In addition to the AN/ALQ-131s, the F-16s have the option of carrying the Pylon Integrated Dispensing System and the Electronic Combat Integrated Pylon Systems: PIDS and ECIPS.

PIDS ejects metal chaff and hot-burning flares to spoof incoming radar- and infrared-guided anti-aircraft missiles. ECIPS houses passive defenses to complement the active chaff and flares, including the AN/ALQ-162 jammer for defeating radars on the ground, as well as an AN/AAR-60 missile warning system for triggering the defenses.

Pockets of superiority

The AN/ALQ-131 in particular can “give you a pocket of air superiority for a moment’s time to achieve an objective that has strategic importance and impact,” a USAF official explained.

The Ukrainian air force has been taking full advantage of the AN/ALQ-131-equipped F-16s’ ability to fill Russian radar screens with electronic noise. “They act as ‘flying air defense’ with advanced missile warning tech,” the pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team analysis group noted.

But the Russian air force could sidestep the jamming by reprogramming their radars to operate at slightly different frequencies. Under Biden, the USAF team might’ve kept pace with Russian adaptation by constantly adjusting the AN/ALQ-131s own frequencies. Under Trump, Ukrainian airmen are stuck with pods whose programming may soon be out of date.

Fortunately for the Ukrainian air force, the surplus Mirage 2000s France is donating to the service come with their own powerful jammers—and no Americans are involved in their programming. France may ultimately transfer dozens of the supersonic Mirage 2000s; the first half-dozen or so are already flying missions in Ukraine.

In French air force service, the Mirage 2000-5F flies with a combination of a Serval radar warning receiver, a Sabre jammer and an Eclair chaff and flare dispenser. This electronic countermeasures suite was on the cutting edge of aerial warfare in the 1980s, but began to fall behind a generation later.

Recognizing this weakness, and appreciating the seriousness of the Russian missile threat over Ukraine, the French defense ministry promised to install new electronic countermeasures in the Mirage 2000s before transferring them to Ukraine. It’s likely the ministry was referring to the mostly analogue Integrated Countermeasures Suite Mark 2 or the fully digital Integrated Countermeasures Suite Mark 3.

Either installation is an improvement compared to the old Serval-Sabre-Eclair combo—and a potential replacement for the AN/ALQ-131s as the American pods fall behind Russian adaptation. Where the Americans increasingly align with Russian interests, the French remain steadfast allies of free and democratic Ukraine—and should be available to reprogram the jamming systems as necessary.

Longer term, the Ukrainians could refit their F-16s with non-American electronic countermeasures. The Belgians did something similar back in the 1990s, so it’s not impossible. But it might require time and money Ukraine can’t afford.