Two lost in Rafale collision
August 16, 2024
The French Ministry of Defence has launched a formal accident investigation after two Dassault Rafale fighters suffered a mid-air collision while returning from a refuelling mission over Germany. The French Investigation Bureau for State Aviation Safety (BEA-E) will undertake the investigation.
The two aircraft, a single-seat Rafale C and a two-seat Rafale B were assigned to Escadron de Transformation Rafale 3/4 Aquitaine (the Rafale Transition Squadron 3/4 Aquitaine), a conversion training unit based at BA 113 Saint-Dizier Robinson Air Base, in the Vosges region of France. ETR 3/4 is responsible for training new pilots on the Rafale and for transitioning pilots from other aircraft types. The squadron prepares pilots for the ‘Omni-Role’ Rafale, encompassing air defence, ground attack, and reconnaissance missions.
The two aircraft were returning from a refuelling training mission over Germany when they collided (“during a combat manoeuvre”) at about 12:30 pm local time on August 14, the Armée de l’Air et de l’Éspace said. The incident occurred about 50 nm from St Dizier, near the town of Colombey-les-Belles, which lies on the border between the Vosges and Meurthe-et-Moselle regions of eastern France.
The pilot of the single-seat Rafale ejected safely, reportedly suffering minor injuries, but the crew of the Rafale B were killed.
The Meurthe-et-Moselle prefecture promptly activated its departmental operational centre and initiated the SATER (air-land rescue) plan to support military forces in response to the incident, mounting a search for the aircraft and crews. The surviving pilot was found quickly, his Emergency Locator Transponder (ELT) having activated automatically on ejection. It took several hours of searching by law enforcement agencies to recover the bodies of the other two pilots in the heavily wooded region.
French President Emmanuel Macron quickly issued a statement, saying: “We learned with sadness of the deaths of Captain Sébastien Mabire and Lieutenant Matthis Laurens, during an air accident during a Rafale training mission. The Nation shares the grief of their families and brothers in arms at Air Base 113 in Saint-Dizier.”
The dead instructor, Captain Mabire, reportedly had 2,000 flying hours and 47 combat missions in his logbook.
It is believed that the Armée de l’Air had previously suffered only two Rafale losses, in 2007 and another in 2009, since the type entered service in 2001.
