Argentina considering leasing Israel Kfir AESA Block 60 ( Mirage V)

IAI in September 2013 said it was in advanced negotiations with at least two air forces that wanted to purchase its Block 60-standard Kfir. A company source projected that first aircraft deliveries could occur within a year of a deal being signed, with a market existing to sell "two- to three-squadrons".

As the latest upgrade of the Israeli-made fighter, the new configuration involves giving the General Electric J79-powered aircraft a total overhaul, and re-equipping it with an Elta Systems EL/M-2032 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and an open architecture avionics suite.

Originally developed for the Israeli air force and first flown more than 40 years ago, the Kfir is currently in active service with three operators: Colombia, Ecuador and Sri Lanka. The Colombian air force's C10/C12-standard examples (one pictured above) are the most recent to have been supplied, and are equipped with Elta's AESA radar, large-screen multifunction displays, a Rafael Litening targeting pod. They are also adapted for in-flight refuelling.>>
Argentina seeks Kfir deal with Israel - 1/13/2014 - Flight Global

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Also, how can they just upgrade French product and then sell it to other countrie

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Chak Bamu said:

Argentinians will screw themselves if they go through with this. They'd rather spend hundreds of millions of dollars airing Football matches for free than spend on legitimate defense needs.

Through neglect, they have basically lost their airforce. If they do not procure some airplanes real fast, they would be looking at rebuilding everything from scratch. As a stop-gap they have looked at Spanish F-1, which are pretty near the end of their operational life. Buying these 40 year old Mirage derivatives would be even more stupid.

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Umair Nawaz said:

We cant get them.........Beside this Kafr Block 60 has been introduced when srilanks was considering it retiring its israeli planes and replace them with jft and now they r negotiating with Argis too...........So it was made to keep them in israeli market and fail jft international market.

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Chak Bamu said:

Argentinians will screw themselves if they go through with this. They'd rather spend hundreds of millions of dollars airing Football matches for free than spend on legitimate defense needs.

Through neglect, they have basically lost their airforce. If they do not procure some airplanes real fast, they would be looking at rebuilding everything from scratch. As a stop-gap they have looked at Spanish F-1, which are pretty near the end of their operational life. Buying these 40 year old Mirage derivatives would be even more stupid.

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Penguin said:

Israel built 185 Kfirs and began using them in 1975. Israel retired its Kfirs in the late 1990s, and most of the remaining ones were put in storage. Before being sold on to foreign governments, the jets are updated with new avionics and powerful radars developed by IAI unit Elta Systems, diversified armaments, updated electronic warfare systems, and air-to-air refueling capability. They also get new wiring and a cockpit equipped for day and night operations and poor weather conditions. The air forces of Colombia, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka all fly reconditioned Israeli Kfir jets, currently. This new block 60 version is an upgrade of the Kfir C10, a variant developed especially for export. The Block 60 is offered with Elta EL/M-2032 AESA radar, with open architecture avionics to allow a customer to install other systems. The sensor provides an all-aspect, look-down/shoot-down performance in air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, with the capability to simultaneously track up to 64 targets. The Kfir Block 60 offers a robust and versatile Mach 2+ multi-role jet fighter, carrying 5.5 tons payloads on nine hard-points under the wings and fuselage. The weaponry is enhanced to include Python 5 and Derby. Kfir Block 60 has also completed the integration of RAFAEL Spice autonomous guided weapon, (second platform offering that capability, after the F-16). Conforming to NATO standards, Kfir Block 60 supports Link-16 datalink protocol. The aircraft has combat radius of 1,000 km (540 nm) unrefueled. With refueling the aircraft can fly to a range of 1,100 nm.The J79 has been overhauled to zero flight hours, and would need replacement after 1,600 hours. Israel Aerospace Industries is seeking to market this Kfir fighter jet to foreign countries at the price of $20 million a piece, complete with a 40-year manufacturer’s guarantee.

See also ATLAS CHEETAH, one of which was experimentally fitted with Russian Klimov RD-33, from the Mig-29, which yielded an impressive performance increase....
Cheetah Multirole Fighter Aircraft - Airforce Technology

RD-33/SMR-95-engined 'Super Cheetah D' (note the exhaust: different from standard Cheetah)
Bayou Renaissance Man: Weekend Wings #41: South Africa's "Franken-Mirages", Part 3 of 3

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HAIDER said:

The kfir is basically a mirage V. If Israel is still modifying this frame and selling . Pakistan has the biggest fleet of these Mirage in the world. Where early retirement.?
@Aeronaut ......

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Basel said:

@gambit @500 how Israelis can give new life to old 3rd gen Kfir with Block-60 upgrade while is it just upgraded Mirage-V? and if it possible then can Pakistan do the same with its old Mirage-Vs???

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Basel said:

@gambit @500 how Israelis can give new life to old 3rd gen Kfir with Block-60 upgrade while is it just upgraded Mirage-V? and if it possible then can Pakistan do the same with its old Mirage-Vs???

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syedali73 said:

Argentina barely came out of her bankruptcy and being predicted to fall into the second one. There was/is simply no way for them to invest let alone maintain their air force.


Both Pakistan and Israel began to use Mirages in 60s. It gives me pain to see that in 40+ years, all we achieved was to install air refueling probe on select mirages whereas Israel took the Mirage 5 design to a whole new level. The Kfir C10 it exported to several Latin American countries are equipped with awesome avionics and ACM suites, and able to carry weapons on 9 hard points, 4 of which can employ multi ejector racks. Was that too difficult to achieve by PAF? Not really but then priorities were never there.

At any rate, now we have JF-17 and I hope we'll not drop it like a hot potato and continue to work on future blocks.

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