NEWDELHI: India on Friday inked a $2.4 billion deal to upgrade its 51 French-built Mirage-2000 fighter jets, after long-drawn negotiations over price.
As per the upgradation, the deal, signed between French firms Dassault Aviation-Thales and Defence Ministry officials, will give the aircraft a life extension of about 25 years. The contract does not include cost of weaponry.
“The company officials and Joint Secretary, Air, on Friday signed the contract,” defence sources said.
The deal was, earlier, expected to be signed during French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s visit in December, last year. But, the issue of price remained unresolved. Coupled with weaponry valuing over $2 billion this deal could become the second biggest deal to be signed with France after the project to construct six Scorpene submarines at the Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) valuing $ 5.23 billion.
Among the upgrades planned for Mirage-2000 under the contract include night vision goggle compatible glass cockpit, advanced navigational systems, advanced Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) system, advanced multi-mode multi-layered radar, fully-integrated electronic warfare suite and advanced beyond visual range (BVR) capability.
French firm Thales will be the weapons systems integrator and French firm MBDA will supply the missiles.
The upgradation of the Mirage fleet would take around a decade to complete. Two of the planes will be upgraded in France and the rest 49 aircraft will be refurbished in India.
This will be the second major upgrade of the IAF’s fleet after Mig-29s, which are currently being upgraded in Russia under $964 million contract.