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Capabilities of PAF Dassault MIRAGE-III/V.

Should Pakistan upgrade its Mirages to South African Cheetah standard if not Beyond?

  • Yes

    Votes: 181 59.0%
  • No

    Votes: 126 41.0%

  • Total voters
    307
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never seen multiple bomb pylon on mirage 3/5 before
 
Something went wrong in the 2nd pic
Mirage can carry a rocket booster, maybe its that.

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LANGKASA (Space Eagle): MIRAGE IIIS INTERCEPTOR OF SWISS AIR FORCE WITH SEPR 844 ROCKET BOOSTER
MIRAGE IIIS INTERCEPTOR OF SWISS AIR FORCE WITH SEPR 844 ROCKET BOOSTER

Mirage IIIS was specially built Mirages III fighter jet for Swiss Air Force. Most of the fighter-interceptors were equipped with SEPR 844 rocket booster installed at lower rear end of their fuselages. The booster was use to rapidly climb up to 24km from sea level, and a climb up to 26km from sea level had been recorded by French Air Force. Swiss Air Force had flown these rocket boosted Mirage IIISs from 1969 to 1990.
 
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Mirage III / Mirage 5

Although both the F-6 and the F-86E had a reasonable capabilities in the close support role, yet there was a need to regain the medium range day/night strike power which had been shared by the F-86F and the B-57 untill 1967. There was also the lingering gap in night air defence. To fulfil these requirements, the PAF turned to French Mirage fighter-bomber series.

With a combined total of 180 Mirage IIIs and Mirage 5s in service in 1998, the Pakistan Air Force is the world's second largest Mirage operator - second only to the French Armee d'l'Air (French Air Force). The Mirage entered service with the PAF in 1968. Mirage IIIs are high-speed, all weather, delta wing, long-range fighter-bombers while Mirage Vs are ground attack aircraft derived from the Mirage IIIs, which itself can also be employed in the interceptor role. The first order comprised of 18 Mirage III EPs, 13 Mirage III RPs, 3 Mirage III DPs plus 28 Mirage 5 PAs, 4 Mirage 5 DPAs, 30 Mirage 5 PA2/3s. In 1990, PAF obtained 43 used Mirage III Os and 7 Mirage III ODs from Australia and then purchased 40 reconditioned Mirage III Es from France in 1996 pushing the total to 180 aircraft. The Mirage equips No. 5, No. 7, No. 8, No. 22 (OCU) and a CCS squadron.

One of the most elegant aircraft ever flown, the Mirage III has a large delta wing and circular intakes with shock cones. A rectangular recess under the aft fuselage can contain either a fuel tank or a rocket engine. It has improved Doppler navigation system in fairing under front fuselage, gyro gunsight and nose packing containing Omera 40 and 33 cameras. The Mirage 5 was a fair-weather attack development of the Mirage III. It can also be flown as an interceptor. The reduction of electronic equipment allows more fuel and reduces cost.

The project "ROSE" (Retrofit of Strike Element") was set up to reclaim as many airplanes as possible and to upgrade them with latest avionics. Originally it was thought that only 20 - 25 airframes could be made operational but eventually, more than 40 airframes were refurbuished and put back in service. The avionics upgrade included fitting of HUD, HOTAS controls, RWR's chaff / flare and most important of all the retrofit of FIAR Griffo Radar. This radar is the Italian copy of APG-68 and has full look down shoot down capability.

ROSE: Retrofit Of Strike Element: Is actually the major (Avionics + Radar) upgrade that the PAF Mirage fleet underwent during the 90s.ROSE-I: This included upgraded cockpit instrumentation, Grifo-M Radar and weapons system reconfiguration. (BVR-able).ROSE-II: This included the Sagem implemented MAESTRO Nav/Attack System. (Strike).ROSE-III: This included the Sagem MAESTRO Nav/Attack and FLIR. (Precision Strike). Mirage ROSE-III can carry out surgical strike missions using long-range glide bombs.Project ROSE at MRF is a special Project, which is supported by Air Headquarters. In financial year 2003-04, Project ROSE was tasked by Air Headquarters to upgrade Avionics of Mirage-V EF aircraft. Rose-III modified 1st serial aircraft was displayed at Paris Air Show from 11 - 19 June, 2005. The participation in such a world renowned forum has given MRF an opportunity to effectively market its products and services in the international aviation industry. In Pakistan the new fighter received the designation JF-17 (Joint Fighter-17) and is planned to replace the F-7, Mirage III/5 and Q-5.
 
French sometimes come up with weird but fascinating solutions. Here they designed a fuel tank+rockets, fuel tank+4 bombs and even a (proposed but not implemented most likely) fuel tank+rockets+bombs all in one solution for Mirage aircraft.

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Here are some real pictures

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PAF technician installing on Mirage aircraft

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If one had to pick two fighters that symbolized the Cold War from the 1960's to the 1980's, the Mirage III/V vs. the Mig-21/J-7 would be it. PAF if pretty unique in having such a long history of operating both. They are both beautiful aircraft as well.
 
If one had to pick two fighters that symbolized the Cold War from the 1960's to the 1980's, the Mirage III/V vs. the Mig-21/J-7 would be it. PAF if pretty unique in having such a long history of operating both. They are both beautiful aircraft as well.

Classic
 
How the hell Mirage is able to take this much weight and JF can't ?

West is far ahead. There is reason PAF turns to F-16s time and again. JF-17 is a very capable aircraft which is partly because of PAF set parameters to be met. PAF also has the ownership of future development so JFT will be just fine for our requirements. It can take more weight compared to Mirage, technically. As far your question, you will understand by this example.

Mirage came in 1967 and still hasn't run out of life. F-7 came in 1990 but needs to be replaced first by JFT. Get the idea? As I said West is far far ahead.
 
If one had to pick two fighters that symbolized the Cold War from the 1960's to the 1980's, the Mirage III/V vs. the Mig-21/J-7 would be it. PAF if pretty unique in having such a long history of operating both. They are both beautiful aircraft as well.
Not sure why you chose the mirage 3/5 over the Phantom?
 
Not sure why you chose the mirage 3/5 over the Phantom?
I love the F-4 but it was a bit ahead of it's time and took awhile to become a truly great fighter. It lacked a gun until the "E" model. The naval models never had a gun, which remained a real handicap. One could learn to dogfight in it successfully, but it was not much of one. The Mirage by comparison, although not intended as a dogfighter, was more adaptable in that role. The F-4 also suffered from practically useless Aim-7 missiles in their early versions and engines that were less than ideally responsive to the throttle and which smoked badly. It's more like a testament to the ruggedness and improvability of the F-4 that she became a good fighter aircraft, despite all her faults.
 
On-Topic, the near pristine quality of the aircrafts in the images from Nomi and Windjammer on the previous
page are supplemental testimony to the care provided by PAC and PAF to these jets as is the simple fact
that Pakistan is the last user of the types.
That's medal worthy : smile, you're on the podium! :pakistan:


Somewhat less on_topic :

Because MiRages R StiLL SeRviciNg n New Jets Like RafaLe n Tejas has gaiN a Lot fRom MiRage DesigNs

BMRRSSRNNJLRLTNLRMRDN?

Since there are way too many numbered alphabet systems to sift through cuz I got a life ...
either I lack the linguistic skills to infer the vowels in a consonant validated language I ignore
or this is the most convoluted associative social or political formation acronymic name I've ever seen!

If it's the former, would you mind decrypting that for me for better comprehension ...
and if it's the latter may I suggest something shorter as say GOP, UN or ISIL?

Good day to you and all, Tay.

P.S. I just noticed the same characteristic in your pseudo so if the problem stems from
real life bugs in your keyboard or neural system, please ignore the light sarcasm above.
 
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I love the F-4 but it was a bit ahead of it's time and took awhile to become a truly great fighter. It lacked a gun until the "E" model. The naval models never had a gun, which remained a real handicap. One could learn to dogfight in it successfully, but it was not much of one. The Mirage by comparison, although not intended as a dogfighter, was more adaptable in that role. The F-4 also suffered from practically useless Aim-7 missiles in their early versions and engines that were less than ideally responsive to the throttle and which smoked badly. It's more like a testament to the ruggedness and improvability of the F-4 that she became a good fighter aircraft, despite all her faults.

Why century fighters did not find much love? Deltas were all the rage back then but still US AF/N isn't so poetic about them. Wonder why?
 
Why century fighters did not find much love? Deltas were all the rage back then but still US AF/N isn't so poetic about them. Wonder why?
Well we did have the F-102/106 but that truly was a pure interceptor. I think the full delta wing put some limitations on how the Mirage III/V was used as well. Especially in low-level attack missions where that delta made for a rough ride but the overall strength of the design, it's simplicity, it's stability as a gun platform, made the Mirage an excellent all around fighter.
 

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