India to upgrade over 50 Mirage fighters - newspaper

Posted on: May. 9th, 2008 || Source: RIA Novosti | E-mail Article | Print Article

India to upgrade over 50 Mirage fighters - newspaper

NEW DELHI, May 9 (RIA Novosti) -- India is close to sign a contract with France, worth an estimated 1 billion euros ($1.54 billion) for the upgrade of the 51 Mirage-2000 fighters in service with the Indian air force (IAF), a national newspaper said on Friday, citing military sources.

The contract may be signed in summer pending price negotiations. In March 2008, India signed a $964 million deal with Russia for the upgrade of 63 MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters.

According to the Times of India newspaper, "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."

India bought 40 Mirage-2000s in the mid-1980s, and later added another 20 aircraft. Since then, 10 Mirages have been lost in crashes.

IAF is pursuing the modernization of its fleet of Russian MiGs, British Jaguars and French Mirage-2000s to enhance their combat potential and extend their service life.

In addition, India has extended by two months the deadline for a $10 billion tender for a 126 multirole combat aircraft contract.

Six major aerospace companies, including Lockheed and Boeing from the U.S., Russia's MiG, France's Dassault Rafale, Sweden's Gripen and the EADS a consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian companies, are in the contention for the deal.

India intends to increase the number of fighter squadrons in service with the IAF from 30-32 to almost 40.
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