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Fighters, Bombers and Recon Discussion Board
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Subject: French Fighter Force Blues
Phaid    5/12/2008 8:16:11 AM
I thought this was pretty interesting. A report from the French National Assembly highlights aircraft availability problems in the AdA fighter fleet.
 
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Show Only Poster Name and Title     Sort in Reverse Order Posted
Phaid       5/12/2008 8:23:03 AM
The government report is here.  Apparently, the issues mostly concern engine maintenance, although other issues plague some older aircraft. 

Here is a breakdown by type:

Évolution du taux de disponibilité des aéronefs

Type
d?aéronef

DISPONIBILITÉ

Avions

Année 2005

Année 2006

1er sem. 2007

Avions de combat

Rafale

  

44,8 %

45,6 %

Mirage 2000 B/C

59,5 %

49,7 %

53,1 %

Mirage 2000 -5F

53,0 %

54,8 %

45,8 %

Mirage 2000 D

54,0 %

47,1 %

43,4 %

Mirage 2000 N

69,5 %

63,8 %

60,0 %

Mirage F1 B

61,5 %

66,2 %

53,1 %

Mirage F1CR

55,8 %

58,1 %

51,2 %

Mirage F1 CT

65,6 %

62,3 %

60,9 %

TOTAL

60,1 %

54,6 %

51,7 %

Stephen Trimble at Flightglobal has an article that goes into a little more detail.  He translates an article on the subject published in Liberation, a French newspaper:

One air force fighter aircraft out of two (48.3%) is not available. This huge figure, is extracted from a report prepared by the parliamentary deputy Jean-Claude Viollet. And, contrary to official statements, these figures are increasing. The availability rate by type of aircraft is detailed in the table below. An aircraft is considered unavailable when it can not be implemented within six hours. The difficulties stem mainly from jet engines. Specifically, the Air Force has the ability today to fly 150 combat aircraft. In the first half of 2007, there were, for example, 26 Mirage 2000-Ds available. If one excludes the six 2000-D Opex (three in Afghanistan and three in Djibouti), it means that the Air Force is able to bring only one squadron (20 aircraft) out of three it is supposed to possess.

(I fixed up the translation for him -- "reacteurs" is the French word for jet engines)

The bottom line is that the AdA's real strength is roughly 150 aircraft at any time.
 
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Herald12345    I knewthe AdAwas in bad shape......    5/12/2008 9:03:12 AM
.............but that they admit this publicly and that it is this terrible is appalling.

Herald
 
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