Thales and Dassault Aviation sign contract for Mirage upgrade

Posted by- Neelam Mathews

July 29, 2011

Time: 3:40pm IST

Thales and Dassault Aviation signed a contract an hour ago for the upgrade of the 51 Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 fleet.

The upgrade will further enhance the technical-operational capabilities of the Indian Air Force Mirage 2000s, say the two companies in a joint statement.

India recently awarded the upgrade contract to Dassault for $2.4billion according to reports. However, an official told Aerospace Diary, “the amount is significantly lower.”This could not be confirmed.

The upgrade includes retrofitting the Mirages with new avionics including the Thales' RDY-2 multimode radar and MBDA's MICA air-to-air missiles among other equipment. It is not clear if the contract amount includes the missiles.

Thales will now need to tap its existing and potential partners for offsets including finalization of its JV with Samtel.

Dassault Aviation and Thales “are highly appreciative of the Indian government's continuing trust in them and are delighted with this contract that further consolidates the long-term strategic partnership between India and France. They reiterate their commitment to meet the operational requirements of the Indian Air Force and underline their pride in contributing to India’s defense for over half a century,” says a statement.

Thales was recently awarded a contract to supply over 100 of its GNSS 1000-S GPS receivers to upgrade France’s fleet of Mirage 2000D aircraft within the framework of the French Army’s Global Navigation Satellite System equipment renovation program