Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 Upgrade Progresses Despite Groundings

[anup]

Although a $2.2 billion upgrade of India’s Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters is progressing, around a quarter of the fleet of 49 is grounded because a contract for spares has remained unsigned for years, AIN has learned from sources involved in the program.

“Bureaucratic holdups have caused delays. As a result, parts are being cannibalized and there are some aircraft [inactive] since 2010. Life of some parts, especially avionics, is expiring,” said an engineer not willing to be identified. Repairs of the Mirages are carried out at the base repair depot in Gwalior in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. The depot also does material planning and storage of primarily third- and fourth-line spares. The Indian Air Force declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the upgrade to the 2000-5 standard is progressing. Two aircraft have completed flight trials and are awaiting certification. Delivery to HAL is expected within two months. The third aircraft is expected to fly soon. Another two will be retrofitted in Bangalore byHindustan Aeronautics (HAL). The remaining Mirages will be reassembled in India with tooling to be supplied by Thales. While a timeline of seven years has been given to upgrade all the aircraft, a defense consultant characterized as “ambitious” any projection for HAL to produce six a year. However, HAL chairman RK Tyagi told AIN, “We can produce up to 10 a year.” The HAL team has already gone to France for training. Test benches in Gwalior will require upgrading, for which bids have not as yet been released.

The new capabilities include longer-range detection and weapon firing against multiple targets and an extended operating envelope that will allow a border-protection mission. The multitrack RDY-3 radar equipment on the Indian Mirage is the same generation the French air force uses on the Mirage 2000D, with range increased to 50 nm from the existing RDM radar's 40 nm.

India is ordering 164 Litening 2 targeting pods from Israel's Rafael for the upgraded Mirages, as well as for Su-30 MKIs. The nation has also cleared a proposal to buy more than 400 MICA short- and medium-range air defense missiles. These will replace the Magic II short-range infrared missiles and Super 350 MRAAM on the Mirages.

Source:- Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 Upgrade Progresses Despite Groundings | Aviation International News

 

[The Unnamed]

funny huh ?

we need a dedicated finance minister. and jaitley as defencce minister.

house cleaning is essential. finger's pointed at the forces too. our boys lives depend on it.

 

[Basel]

the upgrade cost is huge French are milking India well. Why small canards and MATV nozzle are not added it would have made them beast in all aspects of missions it had to do. X-31 & F-16 Vista tech combination will be good for any delta design fighter jet to improve performance.

 

[kaykay]

the upgrade cost is huge French are milking India well. Why small canards and MATV nozzle are not added it would have made them beast in all aspects of missions it had to do.

Jab puri baat pata na ho to much na khola karo. half of upgradations cost is for weapons including 500 Mica.

 

[Basel]

@kaykay Even then its too expensive, have you seen how economically PAF upgraded its F-16s with weapons including in the package. Put negative mind set aside before you talk.

 

[janon]

the upgrade cost is huge French are milking India well. Why small canards and MATV nozzle are not added it would have made them beast in all aspects of missions it had to do. X-31 & F-16 Vista tech combination will be good for any delta design fighter jet to improve performance.

Adding canards and new nozzles would make it a different aircraft. That's not a simple plug and play procedure - it will be a new airframe with new flight characterestics, new aerodynamics, new everything. There will have to be new flight tests, new validation, new software for the controls and so on.

That won't be an upgrade, but a new development.

Yes, the costs of the upgrade seems very high, but it may be that there were backdoor deals channeled in the guise of the deal. Otherwise it does seem excessive.

 

[sancho]

Not sure if the article is reliable, based on unnamed sources and with several factual mistakes like the number of M2Ks upgraded in France, Litening 3 and not 2, the number of Mica's procured...

Even then its too expensive, have you seen how economically PAF upgraded its F-16s with weapons including in the package. Put negative mind set aside before you talk.

Just that the F16s were upgraded completely abroad, without ToT to Pakistani industry to do the bulk of the upgrade in house, not to mention that there are technical differences too, but the single fact that the M2K upgraded has (imo a silly) point of upgrading them in India caused major cost increases, so you can't actually compare both upgrades and it's costs.

 

[Basel]

Adding canards and new nozzles would make it a different aircraft. That's not a simple plug and play procedure - it will be a new airframe with new flight characterestics, new aerodynamics, new everything. There will have to be new flight tests, new validation, new software for the controls and so on.
That won't be an upgrade, but a new development.

But US have done it with F-16s and some other countries have tested these kind of stuff on their platforms so why not on M2Ks when you are willing to invest heavily on their upgrade, it will make them extremely potent even in air to air role, will reduce work load on air defence fighters and India can get more used M2Ks around the world and upgrade them as stop gap to fill numbers untill Tejas MK2 and even 5th gen arrived. India have money and have International cooperation available to do that.

Just that the F16s were upgraded completely abroad, without ToT to Pakistani industry to do the bulk of the upgrade in house, not to mention that there are technical differences too, but the single fact that the M2K upgraded has (imo a silly) point of upgrading them in India caused major cost increases, so you can't actually compare both upgrades and it's costs.

India have good aviation Industry but it does not mean every thing have to be done in house, these birds are being upgraded for stop gap so why need to do it in house?? Should have done it in France to save costs and buy more M2Ks from other countries and upgrade them as PAF is doing with F-16s.

Just Imagine a M2K having MATV & very small canards like X-31s it will make them deadly machine with advance avionics even agile fighters like Mig-29s & MKI will find it difficult do handle it in air to air DACT.

 

[The Unnamed]

But US have done it with F-16s and some other countries have tested these kind of stuff on their platforms so why not on M2Ks when you are willing to invest heavily on their upgrade, it will make them extremely potent even in air to air role, will reduce work load on air defence fighters and India can get more used M2Ks around the world and upgrade them as stop gap to fill numbers untill Tejas MK2 and even 5th gen arrived. India have money and have International cooperation available to do that.



India have good aviation Industry but it does not mean every thing have to be done in house, these birds are being upgraded for stop gap so why need to do it in house?? Should have done it in France to save costs and buy more M2Ks from other countries and upgrade them as PAF is doing with F-16s.

Just Imagine a M2K having MATV & very small canards like X-31s it will make them deadly machine with advance avionics even agile fighters like Mig-29s & MKI will find it difficult do handle it in air to air DACT.

it was an upgrade. mid life upgrade. f16 didn't become a new plane after the mlu. this upgrade is something which doesn't need tinkering with except a new engine maybe. this topic on the other hand talks about spares for the existing fleet. with or without upgrade.

i agree we should have done it in france. would have cost less. there is some thing here which is not visible.

 

[Basel]

it was an upgrade. mid life upgrade. f16 didn't become a new plane after the mlu. this upgrade is something which doesn't need tinkering with except a new engine maybe. this topic on the other hand talks about spares for the existing fleet. with or without upgrade.

When I talked about F-16 being testbed it means that LM have tested too many things on F-16s that is why majority of 5th gen systems are compatible with F-16s VISTA & XL are just few examples how LM have played with their bird well to test tech. French have also tested Mirage-4000 with canards, so India could have asked for tech from France & US with technical support to integrate those tech into M2Ks, it would have taken time but not very difficult and it would have bang of the buck for IAF.

Because M2Ks are most war readily available and low maintenance jet in IAF.

 

[The Unnamed]

When I talked about F-16 being testbed it means that LM have tested too many things on F-16s that is why majority of 5th gen systems are compatible with F-16s VISTA & XL are just few examples how LM have played with their bird well to test tech. French have also tested Mirage-4000 with canards, so India could have asked for tech from France & US with technical support to integrate those tech into M2Ks, it would have taken time but not very difficult and it would have bang of the buck for IAF.

Because M2Ks are most war readily available and low maintenance jet in IAF.

tested doesn't mean you put it on frontline squadrons bob ! it means that they have worked in tests..long way till they hit the actual improvement based on that. and m2k won't stick around that much longer. maybe the french will use that tech for a later jet based on the m2k.

 

[Basel]

@theunnamed Basically Mirage-4000 was tested in 1987 (I think) with twin engine n canards design, it gave birth to Rafale, if it was not named Rafale it would have been named Mirage-4000.

what LM have tested on F-16s its available for customers if they r ready to pay, just see how US is upgrading their fleet due to delay in F-35 project.

even different types of engine nozzles are available as per customer requirements.

Dassault Mirage 4000 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[sancho]

India have good aviation Industry but it does not mean every thing have to be done in house, these birds are being upgraded for stop gap so why need to do it in house?? Should have done it in France to save costs and buy more M2Ks from other countries and upgrade them as PAF is doing with F-16s.

Depends, it is an open secret that these M2Ks are a prime factor in the nuclear strike role of IAF, so having the ability to modify the fighters in house beyond what the manufacturer proposes, would indeed be important. But then again, there is hardly anything the French currently would deny us, with the MMRCA deal as the main pressuring factor. Personally I would have saved that money too and had went for the faster upgrade in France. Additional M2K-5s are not available at the moment, Qatar are the first that will replace them, but even they still need to decide for a new fighter, the UAE deal is a long shot and not interesting for IAFs timeframes anymore.