Thales-HAL To Jointly Bid For Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 Upgrades
Dated 16/7/2007
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With the Indian government set to ask for proposals to upgrade its fleet of Mirage 2000 fighters, French defence and aerospace company Thales will soon enter into a pact with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to jointly bid for the project, top officials said here.
Thales has also committed itself to a 30 percent offsets clause for the upgrade, unlike some purchases in the past like Russia's Sukhoi-30s and MI-17 choppers in which upgrades were taken as part of the original deal, the officials added.
"I think, things are finally moving forward," said Jean-Paul Perrier, executive vice president for the $17-billion French giant, referring to the government's intention since two years ago to upgrade its fleet of 51 Mirage 2000 fighters.
"We have the full knowledge and the solutions for a low-risk and cost-effective upgrade of Mirage 2000. Thales will also cooperate with Indian and other French industries for the project," Perrier said.
Apart from HAL, other Indian companies that are expected to partner with Thales in the upgrade project include the Department of Aviation Research and Bharat Electronics Ltd that has had a long association with the French company.
The Thales-HAL consortium will include Dassault, which shut down the production line for Mirage 2000s five years ago. Dassault is also in the race to sell 126 multi-role combat aircraft, Renault, to India to replace the MiG-21 fleet.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) had approached Thales in 2005 for upgrading the avionics of Mirage 2000 as also its fleet-operational capability and the air-to-air and the air-to-ground missile superiority for taking on multiple targets.
The upgrade features will include multi-target, multi-mode radar, multi-channel digital video and data recording, mission data processing unit, mass memory, LCD glass cockpit and improved tactical and long-range weapon firing.
"The upgrade will also enhance and extend the weapon stealth and operations with additional capabilities to engage ground targets even while countering airborne threats," said Frederic Andre, director for Thales Mirage retrofit programme.
At present, eight countries, including India, fly Mirage 2000s. They are Egypt, France, Greece, Peru, Qatar, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Of them, France, Greece and the UAE have opted for Thales upgrades.
Officials from Thales and the defence ministry have discussed the finer points of the upgrade to increase the lifespan of the aircraft, which were inducted by the IAF in the 1980s, by around 20-25 years, officials said.
"If we are given the go ahead today, we should be able to retrofit the first set of two aircraft in two years - modified and qualified," Andre said. "Then, based on what the Indian government wants, we can look at two-three aircraft a month."
The aerospace giant has provided avionics and other high-technology systems to most planes flown by the IAF, like the Mirage 2000, SU-30 and MIG-29K, as also for aircraft carrier Gorshkov.
