On 24MAY2011, an Armée de l’Air NATO two seat Mirage 2000D crashed in Afghanistan. The crew ejected and survived.

U.S. Army and Marines, along with French and Italian troops, conducted an 81 miles (130 kilometers) combat logistics patrol to retrieve the French jet.  Some personnel arrived by V-22 Osprey.

There is confusion about where the plane crashed; Lieutenant Colonel Eric de. Lapresle, of the Armée de l’Air, said it happened 100 km West of the city of Farah (in Farah Province), but U.S. DoD information (attributed to USMC 12th Marine Corps District) stated it happened northwest of Forward Operating Base Delaram in Nimruz Province, which is South of Farah (some DoD reports incorrectly put Delaram in Helmand Province which is Southeast of Farah).

For more confusion, some of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) reports claims the Mirage is a 2000-5F while the French air force says it is a two seat 2000D.   The 2000-5F is an upgrade of the single seat 2000C, however, the photos clearly show a two seater.  To make things more confusing, some USMC sources refer to the Mirage as an ‘F-2000’.

The French Mirage 2000D was operating with a Mirage F1 in assisting Italian NATO troops who had come under fire.  It’s thought the Mirage 2000D developed technical problems.

An M88A2 Hercules recovery vehicle was used to tow the wreckage to a new location for disassembly.

Personnel worked to remove the flares from the spine of the 2000D.

The aircraft was considered a total loss, and to hasten the recovery effort it was decided to quickly remove the wings by using C4 plastic explosives.  ‘Purple-K’ was poured into the wing root to try and prevent the spread of any internal fire that might be caused by the explosion.  Note the detonating cords leading to the blocks of C4.

A Heavy Expanded Military Tactical Truck (HEMTT) off-loaded portable fire fighting equipment before the big-bang.

A MTVR MK36 wrecker truck, and the M88A2, were then used to pull the wings off the Mirage.

The M88A2 tracked recovery vehicle then hoisted the fuselage onto a HEMTT pulling a vehicle trailer.

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