Two French Pilots Killed in Rafale Accident: Troubled Fighter Plane’s Record Worsens

The French Air Force has lost two Rafale fighter aircraft and two fighter pilots, after a mid-air collision over northeastern France on August 14. The aircraft had been stationed at the Saint-Dizier-Robinson Airbase. A twin seat fighter destroyed in the crash saw neither of its airmen survive, while the pilot of the single seater was injured but survived after safely ejecting. After a search-and-rescue operation discovered extensive debris, President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that both missing airmen were dead. “We learn with sadness of the deaths of Captain Sebastien Mabire and Lieutenant Matthis Laurens in an air accident during a Rafale training mission,” he stated. The cause of the collision between the two fighters has not been made public. It was initially reported erroneously reported that the fighters were Mirage 2000s.

The Rafale is one of two fighter classes operated by the French Air Force, alongside the older Cold War era Mirage 2000. Both are lightweight fourth generation fighters. France is notably the only major European military power not to have placed orders for fifth generation fighters, namely American F-35s, which have taken the continent by storm and successively won every tender in which they have competed. The older French Rafale has as a result been marketed aggressively to countries which, for political reasons, have not been permitted to acquire F-35s such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The Rafale has also faced three significant losses to the Russian Su-30, after Paris sought to market the fighters to Algeria, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia which all selected the much larger and longer ranged Russian aircraft. The French fighter has also failed to gain expected followup orders from the Indian Air Force, which has instead continued to acquire Su-30s.