Successor to Ramex Delta

Couteau Delta was created in 2017 to carry on the tactical pair display previously flown by Ramex Delta on the Mirage 2000N, which was leaving nuclear-strike service. The new team took two Mirage 2000D strike aircraft of the 3e escadre de chasse at Base aérienne 133 Nancy-Ochey, with a pilot and a navigator in each; in its first season the leading crew came from Escadron 2/3 “Champagne” and the wingman from 3/3 “Ardennes”. The routine reproduces operational tactics: low passes, pop-up attacks and tight turns, between 50 and 2,000 metres and at up to 7g. In 2018 it was lengthened to fifteen minutes and won the Crow Flies Trophy.

On and off the circuit

Operations come first. The pair was put into abeyance in 2019 to free crews for Operation Barkhane in the Sahel, flew again in 2021, and returned after another pause in May 2024 with a twelve-minute display flown at Salon-de-Provence and in Portugal and the United Kingdom. It continued in 2026, the last French display team on any Mirage type, at a time when the 2000D fleet is being modernised to keep it in service.