We still have 120 in service and all of them are not going away any time soon.
@denel and I had a good discussion on the same idea of fitting a Russian Rd-33/Rd-93 engine on the mirage and giving these birds new capabilities with upgrades. At the end of the day, he convinced me that the costs of upgrade a very old airframe with all the risks in doing so, for. Marginally better aircraft are not worth it. It’s better we just increase the rate of production of the JF-17 and try to retire these Mirages as soon as we can. In the mean time a radar and avionics upgrade would be the most we should do to get there most out of these aircraft.
IMHO, if all of the JF-17s Block I and II get an Aesa Upgrade; their radars can be put into the least upgraded mirages for a decent upgrade with minimal cost. Jf-17 avionics could also be added to these planes for commonality of parts to also keep costs down, and we could then use all the weapons available to the JF-17 on the Mirages.
If at all possible, we should be trying to procure more used F-16s as they are Able to carry a heavier payload then the JF-17 and have a longer service life. Should the F-16 option not be available, we need to hold tight for a few years till the economy picks up to crank up the production of JF-17 till we reach 250-300 total JF-17, so that we can retire the Mirages and F-7PGs, in a model similar to Sweden that operates only their own Gripen for all their needs. We just need to keep the focus on making the JF-17 the best possible jet for the PAF, planning for a Block 4 by mid-decade; with IOC a few years after.
Honestly, it all comes down to the economy and diplomacy.
btw, I mention Denel because his company in South Africa did a similar upgrade and that aircraft is at a museum in South Africa. The South African Air Force didn’t upgrade their Mirages to the level of a new engine and just stuck with more modest upgrades. Eventually they retired those upgraded Mirages and bought the Gripen. So it’s very similar to the needs and situation of the PAF.
If you would like to see the plane, here it is: air frame 847
https://www.airteamimages.com/atlas-cheetah_847_south-africa---air-force_135784.html
"The performance increase offered by the Russian engine was impressive, but a combination of budget cuts and
problems with the aircraft's centre of gravity contributed to the program's termination"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Cheetah
