Two French Rafale Jets Collide in Mid-Air, Instructor and Pilot Reported Missing

Colombey-les-Belles, France:

Two French Rafale jets clashed in midair Wednesday in an uncommon accident involving the cutting-edge military aircraft and authorities initiated a frantic search for two crew members.

One pilot ejected following the crash over northeastern France, but an instructor and a student pilot on the second jet were unaccounted for.

The two supersonic jets were from the Saint-Dizier air base, an air force spokesperson in Paris informed AFP.

“One of the pilots was located unharmed,” Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu stated on the X social media platform.

“The pursuit is still ongoing” after the crash, he added, expressing gratitude to armed forces and police participating in the operation.

It was not immediately evident what triggered the collision that authorities stated transpired over Colombey-les-Belles, a town in northeastern France.

“The military authorities will provide information on the causes of the incident”, stated the local prefecture.

The Rafale “multi-role” fighter — utilized to track adversary planes, assault ground and sea targets, conduct reconnaissance and even transport France’s nuclear warheads — has become a top-selling product for the French arms industry.

Incidences involving Rafale jets are infrequent.

‘Unusual sound’

“We heard a loud sound, approximately 12:30pm,” Patrice Bonneaux, deputy mayor of Colombey-les-Belles, relayed to AFP.

It was not the typical sonic boom of a fighter jet breaking the sound barrier, he mentioned. “It was a peculiar noise, a percussive sound”.

“I presumed that two planes had collided, but we were skeptical,” he mentioned, adding that a road adjacent to a nearby forest had been sealed off.

In December 2007, a Rafale jet crashed close to Neuvic in southwestern France. Investigators concluded that the pilot had lost orientation.

That was believed to be the initial crash of a Rafale.

In September 2009, two Rafale aircraft plummeted as they returned to the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle off the coast of Perpignan after completing a test flight. One pilot perished.

France has marketed the Rafale to Egypt, India, Greece, Indonesia, Croatia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

Lecornu announced in January that France had commissioned 42 new Rafale fighter jets, with the first to be delivered in 2027. The French military has now requested over 230 Rafales since the jet became operational.

French President Emmanuel Macron has encouraged defense manufacturers to enhance production and innovation as Europe endeavors to boost arms supplies to reinforce Ukraine, which has been striving to fend off Russia’s invasion, now in its third year.