Two French pilots killed after Rafale warplanes collide mid-air

Two French fighter jet pilots were killed after their Rafale jets collided mid-air Aug 14 with another and crashed in northeastern France.

The incident took place during a combat maneuver in the Vosges region near the town of Colombey-les-Belles, according to the French Defense Ministry’s statement.

The pilots killed in the incident include an instructor and a trainee pilot on a training mission, it said.

The pilot of one Rafale was found alive soon after the crash, but it took many hours for law enforcement personnel in the wooded region to find the bodies of two pilots of the other jet.

One of the pilots was found safe and sound, defence minister Sebastien Lecornu wrote on X.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences in a post on X.

“We learn with sadness the death of Capt Sebastien Mabire and Lt Matthis Laurens in an air accident in a Rafale training mission,” Macron posted on X.

“The nation shares the grief of their families and brothers in arms at airbase 113 in Saint-Dizier in eastern France,” he added.

It was not immediately clear what caused the collision over Colombey-les-Belles, a town in northeastern France. Military and judicial investigations are underway into the causes of the accident, Euro News reported.

The supersonic Rafale “multi-role” fighter – used to hunt enemy planes, strike ground and sea targets, carry out reconnaissance and even carry France’s nuclear warheads – has become a bestseller for the French arms industry.

In December 2007, a Rafale jet crashed near Neuvic in southwestern France. Investigators concluded that the pilot had become disoriented. That was believed to be the first crash of a Rafale.

France has sold the Rafale to Egypt, India, Greece, Indonesia, Croatia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to media reports.