France upgrades Mirage 2000s with rockets to counter drone threats
October 14, 2025
France is following the US Air Force’s lead and upgrading its Mirage 2000s with rockets to better counter one-way-attack drone threats.
France is retrofitting Mirage 2000s to carry rockets
According to France’s Zone Militaire news outlet, France is working to transform its Mirage 2000s to hunt drones, including Shahed-style one-way attack munitions. The publication suggests one solution for the jet would be to equip the Mirage 2000D with laser-guided rockets, such as ACULEUS-LG.
This would be a French analogue to the US solution rushed out in 2025 to counter masses of cheap Houthi and Iranian drones. The US has urgently jerry-rigged F-16s, F-15Es, and A-10s to carry Hydra 70 mm APKWS II rockets carried by platforms like the Apache helicopter.
This provides the US Air Force with a far more cost-effective solution, while also being able to be carried by the jets in large numbers. AMRAAM and Sidewinder air-to-air missiles are just too expensive to be feasible in this type of warfare, and even if they were, fighter jets simply can’t carry enough of them.
Upgrades to the French Mirage 2000s include adding the CC422 30mm gun pod, MICA IR air-to-air missiles (replacing outdated Magic II missiles), new software, and targeting pods.
It dominated enemy fighters for 50 years, and now the F-15 is ready to dominate enemy drones, even if they swarm! An F-15E from the 389th FS "Thunderbolts" carrying six LAU-131A/A rocket pods, each loaded with seven AGR-20 APKWS II laser-guided rockets – that’s 42… pic.twitter.com/tictb4B3t9
— Air Power (@RealAirPower1) August 10, 2025
The Mirage 2000 is an ageing French jet being replaced by the newer and more capable Rafale. France still has around 80 examples in service with its Air and Space Forces; its remaining 2000-5s are expected to retire by around 2029, with its 2000Ds continuing to serve until 2035.
French General Jerome Bellanger quipped, “The Mirage 2000D has not had its last word yet.”
Mirage 2000s have also been supplied to Ukraine in low numbers. It is reported that there are efforts to direct retiring Greek Mirage 2000s to Ukraine to help bolster its air force and anti-drone capabilities.
The burgeoning threat of massed cheap one-way attack drones
Russian drone incursions have highlighted a glaring weakness in Europe’s air defence. Its air defence is optimised for countering high-end threats, such as enemy fighter jets and missiles, rather than swarms of inexpensive drones. In Ukraine, Russia is expected to soon reach the point where it will be sending a thousand Shahed-style drones in a single night attack.
It should be pointed out that it’s not just Ukraine, Europe, or the US in the Middle East facing waves of cheap one-way attack drones. Russia is also struggling and being overwhelmed by increasing waves of Ukrainian drones that are currently devastating its vital oil refining industry.
I think it is time I came clean about it: France may have secretly been training a second group of Ukrainian pilots on Mirage 2000 since last spring or winter.
— French Aid to Ukraine 🇨🇵 🇺🇦 (@aidefranceukr) September 3, 2025
Source: I know people. pic.twitter.com/dvRqLdWsVD
Russia is producing a light fighter variant of its Yak-130 advanced trainer, possibly as a counter to drone threats. Russians have also been seen following in the footsteps of Ukraine, employing propeller-driven Yak-52 trainers to down drones.
A multifaceted counter-drone approach
One-way attack drones are proliferating and are in the disruption phase. They are forcing militaries to adapt and find more effective ways to counter them.
Approaches include using cheap and numerous laser-guided air-to-air rockets, jamming and EW, computer-directed old-fashioned flak fire (e.g., German Gepards), interceptor drones, modified helicopters, and more.
As countermeasures improve, it puts pressure on drones to also improve, which drives up their cost, eroding one of their core benefits. This is expected to reach an equilibrium where countermeasures effectively balance out the benefits of producing one-way attack drones.
Cockpit footage from a Ukrainian Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship shooting down a Russian Shahed attack drone with its Yak-B gatling gun. pic.twitter.com/nIvxATYGCr
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 25, 2025
In Ukraine, one noteworthy, but opaque development, is the emergence of interceptor drones. Particularly those produced by Swift Beat, a startup company founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. At the same time, Ukraine has had success using modified helicopters in anti-drone roles, with them accounting for up to 40% of interceptions in some areas.
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