F-16 vs Mirage 2000: which is more useful to Ukraine?

In May, France announced that it would give its Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Ukraine. That’s the second western fighter type, after the F-16; a bunch of which were promised a year ago.
Now that the first F16s have finally arrived in Ukraine, this video will explore which type is likely to be the lead in what kind of a mission?
It will also explore how both planes might perform in certain situations. Like in air combat versus Russian planes or trying to operate near Russian SAM defenses.
Or simply trying to engage ground targets.

00:00 Intro
01:48 Radars
05:30 Air to Air missiles
09:37 Defensive aids
11:44 Some performance data
13:18 Air to ground weapons
16:40 Fleet numbers & Conclusion

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[nhorvath]

The best fighters are the ones that they actually possess and have the pilots, munitions, and maintenance infrastructure to leverage them.

[nobbynobbs]

Despite the F-16's old age, it still looks so modern. Such a beautiful aircraft

[stanleysmith]

When I started following this channel it was all about theoretical wars...how times have changed.

[θησεαςΜπακογιαννης]

In Greece we use both of them. From pilots interviews we know that Mirage is much much more easy to use and learn than F-16.

[d_lollol]

Mirage jets are good ! I am a big fan .

[Frencho]

French Mirage 2000-5 is meant for air superiority with 6 MICA missiles and up to 3 drop tanks. RDY radar con fully exploit MICA EM range of 80km, so the estimates around 90km detection rate for RDY radar sound good. As far as I know French Mirage 2000-5 don't have Hammer/AASM rocket boosted GBU, SCALP cruise missile or Exocet anti ship missile integration. Only Greek or Taiwanese ones as France relies on two seater mirage 2000D for ground strikes thus they did not go for a multi role 2000-5 like the export variants. UAE 2000-9 are even more modern and fully multirole with recon suite and EW suite based on early Rafale Spectra protos and RDY-3 radar. My guess is that Ukraine will use French Mirage 2000-5 for air combat only. Unless they spend extra time and ressources integrating air to ground weapons and bringing the french mirages 2000-5 to greek or taiwanese standards to be multirole. Rocket boosted Hammer/AASM would be a compartive advantage over F-16 as it is very useful for ground hugging below radar DEAD missions thanks to the rocket boost you get 15km range on these GBUs at sea level, meanwhile gliding GBU need to be launched at medium altitude as a minimum to get decent range exposing the plane to ground AA or enemy figthers. Edit lastly another bonus point of Mirage 2000-5 is that they can do buddy buddy refueling, they just need to buy the centerline refueling probe. F-16 cannot do that and ukraine lacks tankers. Also a mirage is much more discreet than a large tanker.

[williamgarry]

My guess for these 2 platforms is that:
-> Both will be used to take out cruise missiles / Shahed drones
-> F-16s will be used for most of front line Air-to-Ground support missions (w/ stand-off weapons) & SEAD/DEAD missions (using HARMs)
-> Mirage 2000s will be used for deep strike (using SCALP/Storm Shadow) & provide "some limited" air-to-ground support as well w/ Hammer kits. If they also get Exocet missiles, they may be used for some limited strikes against the Black Sea fleet (although most of those ships have moved to the eastern edge of the Black Sea by this point)
-> Ukraine will still need more jets in quantity to build up their forces and to provide mass to turn the tide in the air & would REALLY benefit from Gripens to help with distributed operations so that they can locate the F-16s & MIrages deeper in the rear away from Ruzzian attacks...

[nimaiiikun]

as a Chinese, I can say we were very afraid of Taiwan's Mirage 2000s until the J-20. still its formidable.

[KarpKomet]

As one of many who have warned not to portray them as war winning wonder weapons, thinking about it they can really get 60-80 F-16's and a decent number are B/C models, that's no joke. Now if they can get enough pilots trained for that that's another question...

[robson]

Ideally the Saab Grippen for it's ability to take off from rough improvised air strips and it's limited ground crew requirements.

[BadByte]

Best? Which ever has fewest restrictions and let Ukraine do what they want

[Goebia-jpqq]

Despite being an older model, the F-16 remains impressive. A very beautiful aircraft!

[patriotic-panda]

4:19 the mirage can carry ARH micas on all 6 pylons

9:58 the mirage 2000 has the DDM-2000 missile approach warning sensor

[mehrdud]

Whichever they can get more of + proper long term support for it

[frankleespeaking]

It’s all about availability. What is ready right now..

[mattewj]

I am surprised there was no discussion of tactics used by Greece, Turkey and Pakistan who all operate both types.

[john_in_phoenix]

Which is better? The one that gets delivered and makes a difference.

[blakewu]

If you knew sources inside the Taiwanese Air Force, they may be the best sources for you on this video. I think they're the only big operators of both F16s and Mirage 2000s, and certainly for the longest time (close to 30 years), up to the current day (however, both fighter types have been updated for TAF, including to the V standard for their old Vipers plus another 66 new-build Vs. TAF used the Mirages mostly for air interception (esp. at high altitudes), whereas the F16s do everything else.

[Tekisasubakani]

As Perun often brings up, I feel for anyone involved with Ukrainian logistics.

[mpattoncovidiot]

The f16 works better with the American munitions so I believe it would be better for Ukraine (commented before watching)