Pakistan Air Force's Mirage fleet

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Red aRRow

Forum Bouncer
Pakistan Air Force operates the second biggest Mirage aircraft fleet in the world after the French Air Force.




Pakistan bought 50 ex-Aussie Mirages. The project "ROSE" (Retrofit of Strike Element") was set up to reclaim as many airplanes as possible and to upgrade them with latest avionics. Originally it was thought that only 20 - 25 airframes could be made operational but eventualy, more than 40 airframes were refurbuished and put back in service.

The avionics upgrade included fitting of HUD, HOTAS controls, RWR's chaff / flare and most important of all the retrofit of FIAR Griffo M Radar. This radar is the Italian copy of APG-68 and has full look down shoot down capability. At present No 7 Squadron is inducting a BVR weapon of South African origin.


This picture (above) shows an 8th. Squadron Mirage VPA3. This Mirage has Agave Radar and LW-33 INS and is integrated with Exocets.







Some of the ex-Aussie Mirages did not even require a complete airframe overhaul. The picture above (Mirage Tail # 560) is one of the examples. However, notice that the wings carry a totally different camoflauge. The reason for this is that some of wings on the Aussie Mirages were beyond economical repairs. PAF bought about 14 sets of zero timed wings from South Africa and mated them with the Aussie fuselages.



The Mirage serial numberof PAF are as follows: e.g 70-411 (70 is the fiscal year ordered)

100 series - Original Mirage IIIEP's 1969

200 series - Mirage IIIRP's (Ordered in 2 batches, 3 in 1968 & 10 in mid seventies.)

300 series - Mirage IIID's & Mirage VD's (3 in 1968, 3 in 1970 & 2 in 1979)

400 series - Mirage V's (28 in 1970 & 32 in 1979)

500 series - Ex Aussie Mirage IIIO's (1990)

700 series - Ex French AF Mirage VEF (ordered in 1996, upgraded by SAGEM with wide angled HUD & FLIR system)

800 series - EX Aussie Mirage IIID's
 
R

Red aRRow

Forum Bouncer
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7
syedakm said:
PAF recently received six ex-Spanish Mirage III. Forgot to add 11 ex-Lebananse Mirage IIIL
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Hmmmm interesting. Any more info on that??
 
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nsdap_id

New Member
Salaam,

The avionics upgrade included fitting of HUD, HOTAS controls, RWR's chaff / flare and most important of all the retrofit of FIAR Griffo M Radar. This radar is the Italian copy of APG-68 and has full look down shoot down capability. At present No 7 Squadron is inducting a BVR weapon of South African origin.
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Could it be H4 BVR AAM?? I forgot its South African name. Somebody help me!! :help

Mujahid,

How good are mirages? And what kind of missions are they suited for?
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Mirage III/5/50/IAI Nesher/Dagger/Finger are still suitable in low-tech battle environment, especially in ground-attack mission. As for PAF (correct me), they are supposedly fitted with nuclear device to carry nuke payload. AFAIK from what I heard in Pak Def Forum, PAF had their Block 15S Vipers fitted with Chinese-made ones...sounds so bloody interesting!! :eek
 
R

Red aRRow

Forum Bouncer
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10
nsdap_id said:
Salaam,

Could it be H4 BVR AAM?? I forgot its South African name. Somebody help me!! :help
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I think H4 was the Pakistani code for the T-darter missile. It will be probably inducted for the JF-17 too or made under license as the H4.
 
D

darklegent

New Member
My GOD :eek These planes are nearly 30 yrs and older. I hope that they are well maintained. Th Indian have some thing as old as those (Mig 21 & 23) which they are retiring from their fleets with current Generation Su-30. These are the latest generation fighter jets with current date technology. Pakistan is going to need something like the F-22 to take on these Su-30.
 
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ullu

New Member
There is no match between Su-30 and mirage. Mirage has a different role than su-30 in airforce.

something like the F-22 to take on these Su-30.
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So, now su-30 is equal to f-22? :roll
 
A

Aussie Digger

Guest
I doubt the Mirage 111's would be used as a front line air defence fighter anymore, even in their upgraded state. Remember people, it's more important to have up to date avionics, weapons and weapons systems, than to have the newest airframe going around. BVR air to air combat is much more important that dog-fighting ability nowadays and BVR comes down to radar and weapon performance, not airframe ability. If the Mirage's 111 radar and missile combo were greater than the SU-30's than the Mirage would indeed stand a good chance against it. A few years ago an Australian F-111 "shot down" a US Block 52 F-16C fighter during a Red Flag exercise (Australian F-111's routinely carry AIM -9M Sidewinders on strike missions). Under normal circumstances the F-111 wouldn't stand a chance in air to air combat against an F-16, but good training, good tactics and an element of surprise allowed the F-111 to win the day. Paper statistics which show one aircraft as being better than another don't show the full story. There are so many different elements in combat, that trying to predict a winner is almost like trying to predict the lotto or the weather... Cheers.
 
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Majin-Vegeta

Banned Member
exactly, i hate it how they put in the papers that india has this and that technology wise :p, its the tactics and training that actually counts, and Pakistan is very powerful at that, however..its also updating its fleets with new fighters like F-16C's..and JF-17's. But wat is JF-17 going to be replacing? and i do hope the JF-17 turns out to be a excellent fighter :p
 
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Roger Smith

New Member
PAF - French Mirage Squadrons!

PAF has approx. 180 French Mirage fighter planes. Can anyone inform how many Mirage squadrons PAF has in Order of Battle?
 
R

Roger Smith

New Member
Re: PAF - French Mirage Squadrons!

Winter said:
Roger Smith said:
PAF has approx. 180 French Mirage fighter planes. Can anyone inform how many Mirage squadrons PAF has in Order of Battle?
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Try: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/pakistan/air-force-squadrons.htm

The usual outdated old website we all use...:roll But still good after all this time.
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It seems PAF has on paper 180 Mirage fighter aircrafts. In operation there are only 4 (four) squadrons, which are Squadron #5, #7, #8 & #22 plus another squadron at Combat Commander School.

If there are 16 aircrafts to a squadron, five squadrons make up 80 active or operational Mirage aircrafts. I assume the balance of 100 aircrafts (if any) are to cannibalize for spare parts.
 
F

farina

New Member
I don't know where i read it but it said that Pakistan is one of those countries with one of the largest Mirage fleets in the world. It maybe true. Can anyone please confirm this? :help
 
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