India plans 1 billion euro Mirage upgrade

[tigershark]

India plans 1 billion euro Mirage upgrade
9 May 2008, 0352 hrs IST,TNN

NEW DELHI: India is moving towards signing a big contract with France for the upgrade of the 51 Mirage-2000 fighter jets in the IAF combat fleet, which comes after a $964 million deal was inked with Russia to upgrade 63 MiG-29s.

The bone of contention between India and France for the Mirage-2000 upgrade, however, remains the huge cost of the
deal, which is in the region of 1 billion Euro.

"We are awaiting the response of the French companies (Thales and Dassault Aviation) for our request for proposal. The formal price negotiations will then follow," said a defence ministry official.

"The deal should be signed within this year. The French government has assured us the upgradation charges will be the same as for the French air force," he added.

Thales, meanwhile, seems confident that the deal will be finalised by the middle of this year. "The first four Mirages would be upgraded in France, with the rest being upgraded in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd under transfer of technology (ToT)," said senior vice-president Thales Aerospace, Francois Quentin.

"In the upgrade programme, the entire Mirage airframe will be stripped down to be re-wired and re-equipped with new avionics and weapon systems," he added, speaking after signing a joint venture agreement with Indian electronic display systems manufacturer Samtel.

India has initially bought 40 Mirage-2000s in the mid-1980s, which were followed by another 20 or so in later years. Since then, around 10 Mirages have been lost in crashes. But IAF remains quite gung-ho about them. At one stage, over three years ago, IAF even wanted the advanced Mirage-2000-V to bag its gigantic $10-billion contract for 126 multi-role combat aircraft.

Unlike the earlier deals to buy the Mirage-2000s, which involved no ToT, this time, the defence ministry will ensure that HAL is closely associated with the upgrade programme to enhance the operational life of the multi-role fighters by around 20 years.

The upgraded Mirage-2000 jets will get new avionics, including an advanced navigation system, new mission computers with increased capacity and processing speed, helmet-mounted displays, glass cockpits, internal electronic warfare suites and, of course, better armaments and weapon systems.

IAF is undertaking upgrade programmes of its MiGs, Jaguars and Mirage-2000s to enhance their combat potential, grappling as it is with just around 30-32 fighter squadrons, which is far less than its "sanctioned strength" of 39.5 squadrons.

Source
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/India_plans_1_billion_euro_Mirage_upgrade/articleshow/3023458.cms

[Webmaster]

Upgradation... Indo-English I suppose.

Well if you want quality and ToT, expect to pay for it. Actually, I don't think it's that expensive for such an upgrade.

[tigershark]

Still no mention of MICA missile I guess one must assume India would purchase them.  I always had this crazy idea of using a Israeli radar with the Derby/Python V combo on the Mirage 2000's would have been a cheaper route to go since the MKI's are still there main fighter.  I thought such a venture would have help India in the long run dealing more with Israel.  I believe India remaining 16 out 32? Harriers use the Derby.