PARIS: A French Mirage 2000D fighter jet crashed during a training flight in north-eastern France, killing at least one crew member, while a search operation was underway for the second person on board, the French Air Force said on Wednesday.
The aircraft went down at around 2100 GMT on Tuesday near its air base on the outskirts of Nancy. “It appears that at least one of the crew members was not able to eject,” Air Force spokesman Colonel David Papalardo told franceinfo radio.
The two crew members were a young trainee pilot and an experienced weapons officer, he said. Henry Lemoine, an official representing several villages in the area, said on Facebook that a drone had located the wreckage and emergency services had reached the site.
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Jeune pilote en instruction et officier très expérimenté: le profil des deux passagers du Mirage 2000-D qui s’est écrasé vers Nancy
https://t.co/oczsyVLnML https://t.co/0zuI8XfB2S— BFM (@BFMTV) October 21, 2026
The two-seat Mirage 2000D entered service in 1993 and has been deployed by France in several military operations, including in Kosovo in 1999, Libya in 2011, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and the Sahel region of Africa.
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The aircraft has been involved in previous accidents. In January 2019, both crew members of a Mirage 2000D died when their aircraft crashed during a low-altitude night flight in eastern France. In July 2021, the crew of another aircraft managed to eject before it crashed near Nancy.
A French Mirage 2000D fighter jet crashed near Nancy, northeastern France, on Tuesday night while returning from a mission, killing at least one crew member.
Rescue teams are searching for the second crew member.
The cause of the crash remains unknown. https://t.co/Mh4WuAIkyL
— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 21, 2026
France has recently completed a modernisation programme for its Mirage 2000D fleet and intends to keep the aircraft in service into the 2030s.
