India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and France’s Dassault Aviation will work together to upgrade 52 Indian Air Force Mirage 2000-H aircraft. The $800 million deal has been finalized and the contract will be signed in 2007, a Defence Ministry official here said.
Dassault will upgrade the first two Mirages in France, where HAL engineers will participate in the work. The new avionics, to be bought from Israel, will be installed on the Mirages at HAL facilities in India.
The remaining 50 Mirages will be upgraded in India with technical help from Dassault, the Defence Ministry official said.
A HAL executive said Dassault’s agreement to train HAL engineers in France is the first of its kind for India.
HAL, India’s sole aircraft manufacturer, will remain the prime contractor for the contract and will be responsible for the overall combat-worthiness of India’s Mirage fleet, the Defence Ministry official said.
Dassault will receive 60 percent of the cost of all the Mirage hardware.
The Indian Air Force will also be involved in the upgrade, the Defence Ministry official said, but not with the purchase of the upgrade hardware, a condition the Air Force had earlier insisted upon.
The upgrades include:
• New avionics, including an advanced navigation system, mission computers, Mil 1553 B data with Digibus, a pulse doppler radar that can find objects out to 70 nautical miles.
• Two displays and an advanced head-down display in a glass cockpit.
• Electronic warfare systems, including new radar warning receivers with instantaneous wide-bank receivers, an integrated missile warning receiver with continuous time-to-impact information, and new jammers and countermeasure systems.
• Increased fuel capacity.
The improved Mirages will carry up to four Derby beyond-visual-range missiles, at least two short-to-medium-range Python V missiles and long-range smart munitions.
The deal with Dassault also includes full mission simulators.
The upgraded aircraft will have a warranty of 24 months or 360 operational hours.
Along with the Russian Su-30 MKI, the Mirage is the Air Force’s main combat aircraft, a service official said. The Air Force’s fleet strength has been sliding due to retirement of several of its MiG aircraft. India acquired its first Mirage 2000H/TH fighters in the mid-1980s to equip two air defense squadrons, and has lost at least seven through accidents. •

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