It would depend on what the maintenance and conversion of the Mirages until the end of their life cost. If it is much less than buying new jets, then it makes sense to do so. Also on what the payment breakdown is like (no idea how it works in our case with China for example).
Having a dedicated platform like the EA-18 would require more upgrades rather than just modular pods, no? Assuming that is the kind of capability PAF wants.
True, a lot more then just pods, if the PAF wants to make a dedicated EW platform out of the mirage aircraft, it could fit an ECM system on top of the tail, as on the EA-6B or EF-111, then it could build two GAN pods, one high band and one low band to be carried on the closest hard points under the wings, and finally upgrade the radar to a modern GaN based radar to do EW work in the mid band.
This leaves room for two PL-10E for self protection at the outer wing hard points and room enough for two PL-15 based HARM missiles on the centerline, or similar system.
Couple this with avionics and networking upgrades and you have a dedicated EW platform. When the airframe gives out, swap these components onto a JF-17 and continue the mission.
Think of the Mirages like a drone wingman platform and think of a wingman platform with a 42 kn dry and 60 kn wet engine thrust drone can do it, why not a mirage.
Honestly, I wish they would have gone with an EW version of the JF-17B. It already has modern avionics and space for a large ECM set up on the tail.
Btw, according to some data on the Grifo M5 I found its array is 34 cm (in diameter?; can someone confirm) we should compare this to the diameter of the future EA-18G mid band jammer and work on modifications that allow similar electrical power generation capabilities.
Pakistan can work with China to develop scaled down version of sensors and jammers from their J-16D program.
Also, if they are going to put in this much work into these jet, they might as well try to get the guys from South Africa’s Denzel/Atlas company (if they are still around) that worked on the cheetah upgrades and put in the RD-93/WS-13 (based on a cheetah 847, that flew with a version of the rd-33) into these birds; to improve the thrust (considering the heavy EW and A2G munitions they will need to carry) and the need for more electrical power.
www.flightglobal.com
Perhaps the PAF can buy an Atlas Cheetah from the Ecuadorians, and save some development time, or see if the South Africans are willing to part with Cheetah 847?
Let's be honest, these Mirages which Pakistan Military is using are garbage aircrafts and are obsolete. In fact, these clowns just do not want to fund new jets because they are too busy with loot and plunder. And every now and then these looters just release such fairy tales news so that ordinary people can be lied to about how wonderful PAF is performing.
