France Offers $500 Million Mirage 2000-5F Mulitrole Aircraft To Columbia

France has offered 18 Dassault Mirage 2000-5F multirole aircraft for $500 million to Columbia.

As per the offer, $350 million is the cost of the eighteen surplus aircraft, and  $150 million is for the cost of their initial logistics package.

The aircraft along with their electronic warfare systems will be delivered to Columbia.

The offer comes immediately a month after in-flight tests that pilots of the Colombian Air Force (FAC) carried out in France aboard the Mirage 2000-5F, InfoDefensa reported.

During these trials, the Colombian crews brought the aircraft to speeds exceeding Mach 2, and conducted identification and target designation exercises. The Mirages’ synthetic aperture radar allowed them to engage nearly three times the number of targets than those achieved in similar tests carried out by the same Colombian pilots with Lockheed Martin F16 C / Ds.

The offer comes after the visit of the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, to France, which would ensure full compliance of the transfer process according to NATO standards.

With this operation France would continue to support a traditional ally in the field of defense and security, as well as supporting the Colombian government in the future post-conflict stage.