Peru ordered the Mirage 2000 in December 1982, an US$800 million contract for 14 single-seat 2000Ps and two two-seat 2000DPs, according to English Wikipedia. The country’s finances forced a cut to ten and two when the contract was signed in 1985. The first aircraft was handed over in France in June 1985; Zona Militar dates the arrival of the first four in Peru to 23 November 1986, Wikipedia to December 1986, and Zona Militar says all twelve were in service by June 1987. They went to Grupo Aéreo No. 4 of Ala Aérea No. 3 at La Joya, flown by Escuadrón Aéreo 412 “Halcones”.

The Mirages flew combat air patrols in the Cenepa war with Ecuador in 1995, according to Wikipedia; the sources checked do not say whether those patrols were flown from La Joya. Since then the story has been one of keeping old jets airworthy: a US$140 million inspection and partial avionics programme in 2009, a major inspection in 2012, and in November 2024 the air force’s decision not to upgrade the type further. In 2026 English Wikipedia counts nine 2000Ps and two 2000DPs still in service; Spanish Wikipedia gives eight.

During the 1982 war between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the islands the UK calls the Falkland Islands and Argentina the Islas Malvinas, Peru, under President Fernando Belaúnde Terry, sent Argentina ten Mirage fighter-bombers. A Zona Militar history by Diego García Montaño (14 August 2022) describes how the aircraft had their Peruvian markings replaced with Argentine ones and flew from Chiclayo to “la base militar de la Joya, en Arequipa”, then to Jujuy province in Argentina and on to Tandil, on a route chosen to avoid Chilean radar.

The same account says Peruvian pilots volunteered to fight alongside the Argentines. Whether the Mirages, Mirage 5Ps according to Wikipedia, flew operationally before the ceasefire of 14 June 1982 could not be confirmed in the sources checked, and the article’s details rest on the recollections of Peruvian officials rather than published official records.

Peru lost its air-to-air refuelling when the Boeing 707-323C tanker FAP 319 was retired. Zona Militar reports that it came back during ECODEX XII, a national exercise that ran from 18 to 26 October 2023 with about 540 missions and 680 flying hours planned, when Mirage 2000Ps refuelled from the two ex-Spanish KC-130H Hercules of Escuadrón de Transporte 841 at Callao. The initiative came from Grupo Aéreo No. 4 at La Joya, and the Argentine Air Force helped qualify the Peruvian pilots.

On 11 April 2024 a Mirage 2000P of Grupo Aéreo No. 4 lost contact during low-altitude navigation training. Searchers in a Mi-17 helicopter and a C-26B found the wreck the next day on the western slope of Picchu Picchu, in the Chiguata district of Arequipa; the pilot, Major Ramiro Alfredo Rondón Medina, was killed. The air force set up an accident investigation board. Weeks later the multinational exercise Resolute Sentinel 2024, with about 1,500 personnel from Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, France and the United States, opened with a ceremony at La Joya.

The search for a new fighter, begun in 2012 according to the Ministry of Defence, ended at La Joya’s door. Ministerial Resolution 00167-2026-DE, published on 17 February 2026 under Supreme Decree 020-2026-EF, released S/1,137 million, about US$300 million, for a project to recover the aerospace control capability “del Grupo Aéreo Nº 4” with high-performance fighters — a programme of 24 aircraft. In April 2026 Peru chose the F-16 Block 70 over the Gripen E/F and Rafale F4 and signed for an initial twelve; the US ambassador expects them in 2029–2030.

La Joya’s clear desert skies have also drawn another plan. In a November 2024 interview the then Commander General, General del Aire Carlos Enrique Chávez Cateriano, said a large space telescope was to be transferred to Peru and installed at the base, as one component of a space programme that also includes a launch site at Talara. In August 2026 Zona Militar reported a high-power telescope among the donations on the US–Peru cooperation agenda for the end of 2026; whether it is the same instrument was not confirmed.