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Capabilities of PAF Dassault MIRAGE-III/V.

Should Pakistan upgrade its Mirages to South African Cheetah standard if not Beyond?

  • Yes

    Votes: 181 59.0%
  • No

    Votes: 126 41.0%

  • Total voters
    307
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mirage IIIs are fighters of a generation gone by time for PAF to invest in Grippen or Mirage 2000s inorder to catch up. These fighters were good in the 70s but not anymore!
 
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mirage IIIs are fighters of a generation gone by time for PAF to invest in Grippen or Mirage 2000s inorder to catch up. These fighters were good in the 70s but not anymore!
Two main reasons why they are still flying:
1. Their replacement is underway in form of JF-17. Lack of funds/economic strength/political stability are the main reason why we collected Mirages from around the world.
2. PAF learned lots of new-things with them (especially the ROSE upgrade) and they invested so much that naturally they became the need of PAF.

Mirages might be poor for A-A, but for A-G missions its still the best aircraft for us before maturity of JF-17/procurement of FC-20.
 
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Raptor II = H4 ?
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The longest ranged of these weapons is the Raptor. Originally developed with DoD funding, foreign investment has allowed the development of an improved version, the Raptor II, which is in production for the investor country. While the Raptor I is an unpowered PGM, the Raptor II is an ASM, with significantly greater range.


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H-2 is the AGM, [perhaps version of raptor 1]



please correct me if I am wrong




old pak def article
"It is a widely circulated rumor among the PAF critics that Pakistan acquired South African MUPSOW, a multi-purpose, surgical-strike weapon, designed to neutralize enemy targets such as airfields, bunkers and command-and-control centres at standoff ranges. Pinpoint accuracy is achieved by using an advanced navigation and terminal guidance technology. It is also known that between 1996-98 Pakistan bought category A and B military hardware which includes sensitive major significant equipment, such as fighter jets and other large systems. Some sources also report that PAF was also testing South African Raptor I and II precision guided munitions which were designed based on Mirage III/Cheetah being the primary platform of launch.

Although identified as the DART pod, this appears identical to Rafael's LITENING pod. Other Mirage 5F upgrades included an integrated electronic warfare suite, on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS), and single point pressure refueling. One of the key features of the ROSE upgrade was the induction of Italian FIAR Grifo-M radar, which is a copy of US made APG-68 radar. This gave these aircraft the capability of carrying BVR missiles. At the time Pakistan was interested in South African Darter series of missiles, which later on fell through due to sanctions imposed, by South Africa when military government took over after a bloodless coup. "

MUPSOW
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mirage- raad
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are these mirages or KFIR's?

I think they are S.African cheetahs later bought by ecuador

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probe location is different


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dated2004
ISLAMABAD, Dec 17: Pakistan Air Force has integrated the H-4 out-of-sight target bombs in its arsenal of fighter aircraft, official sources said. The incorporation of H-4 bombs have added to the capability of the PAF to hit out-of-sight targets from a distance of up to 120 kilometres to evade enemy radars during air strikes. A lighter version of the bomb, H-2 model, can hit the out-of-sight targets from a range of up to 60 kilometres.

"It is a step towards adding the Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles to our arsenal for defensive purposes and to address the strategic imbalance in the region," sources said.


The indigenously produced H-4 bombs is an achievement of the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM), which works in close collaboration with Pakistan Missile Organizationand the Air Weapons Complex.

"Three successful tests of H-4, with the latest conducted this year, produced satisfactory results leading to addition of arsenal in the fighter jets," the sources said.

The H-4 bombs have been made through indigenous efforts by modifying the technological design of South African T-Darter BVR missiles. Till the induction of JF-17 Thunder in 2006, with a provision for BVRs, the H-2 and H-4 bombs could be carried by Mirage fighter jets. The H-4 infrared device is said to be comparable to that of the AA11, AA12 and Python 4 in the Indian arsenal.
 
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The PAF Mirage ROSE Upgrade

06/22/2013
[4 hours ago]



The Pakistani ROSE (Retrofit of Strike Element) Mirage III/V remain a major asset until the JF-17 replaces them. The Mirages have been a blessing for Pakistan, in a time when it had very few options open. Pakistani Mirages have served a wide range of roles, from nuclear delivery to recon.

They have been the only fighters to support the PN with an anti-surface capability with the Exocet. In exercises, they have been the only fighters to defeat the vaunted F-16s in the PAF. PAF Mirages have served a wide range of other roles including air defence, with BVR R-Darter missiles to deep strike with the Mirage Vs. Most importantly, Mirages gave Pakistan the confidence to pursue, and opportunity to build, an extensive foray into combat aircraft manufacturing capability, that finally culminated in the JF-17.

It is also widely believed that the ROSE Mirages will continue to serve, along with the JF-17s post 2015. We here look back in time to consider the Mirage and its upgrade with the PAF.

The ROSE project was conceived in 1992 and begun on April 1995. PAF's main concern was to replace the A-5s that were deemed to retire in 1997. The aim was to raise two squadrons that were capable of a surface attack role, building a strike and precision strike capability.

PAF went on a shopping trip to thus buy and rebuild secondhand Mirages and sources included Belgium, Spain, France, Lebanon and Zaire. The operational requirement was for fifty aircraft and forty aircraft were allocated funds of $120 million. PAF personnel visited Spain, France and Lebanon, among other countries and inspected 96 Mirages.

SAGEM, a French company which specializes in avionics and defense electronics, was to provide some of the equipment for upgrading the Mirages with their inertial navigation and system integration departments. However, SAGEM was looking for making more and proposed an additional forty Mirages for $150 million.

This opportunity came as a result of PAF's enthusiasm for forty Mirage Vs and about forty Mirage IIIs of the French Air Force, which were available for sale at quite a reasonable price. The French Mirage V suited the PAF requirement because of its longer range and greater payload. PAF negotiated and the price came down eventually to $124 million and finally to $118 million by contract signing.

The package included thirty-four Mirage Vs and six dual-seat Mirage IIIs, making a total of forty fully overhauled aircraft. Out of the forty aircraft, twenty Mirage Vs would be modernized to the ROSE-II standards. These Mirage V ROSE-II were to receive an identical upgrade to ROSE-I, with the difference being that the Grifo-M radar is replaced by FLIR. The Grifo M, somewhat of a copy of the US APG-68, provided the Mirages with a significant improvement in look-down-shoot down capability, and more controversially, the ability to carry BVR missiles.

The details of the package included engines installed on the aircraft would have a minimum life of four years and 300 hours and inclusion of ground support, alternate mission equipment, and line replaceable units. Additionally, kits were to be provided for RWR, CFD and GPS.

The modifications were done in France since PAC Kamra was during that time frame, already busy overhauling the PAF's existing Mirages. Accepting any additional work would have unnecessarily delayed the delivery of the French Mirages to the PAF. However, SAGEM encountered problems on purchase of spares, which they needed for the timely and efficient running of their upgrade program and the company managed to get the first batch ready only by September 1998. A second batch of eight was received in 1999 while the third batch of eight came to Pakistan on 22 June 2000 and deliveries were completed by end of 2000.

PAC Kamra, which had extensive experience in overhauling Mirages, F-6s and F-7s, was tasked with the work of overhauling and upgrading Mirages acquired from Australia to the ROSE upgrade standard. Pakistan had bought 50 Mirage IIIOs from Australia at a mere cost of $36 million. Most of these aircraft had less than 4000 flying hours on them and they were in excellent condition.

PAC recovered forty-five aircraft and this included seven dual-seat models that were allotted to No. 5 Squadron. Of the remaining, there were thirty-two with ROSE configuration, one aircraft crashed, and another five were considered beyond recovery.

The avionics package included Inertial Navigation System, Heads Up Display, Airborne Video Tape Recording System, and self-protection systems like RWR, Chaff and Flares, essentially the same as the SAGEM upgrades. When the United States released 360 AIM-9L missiles under the Brown Amendment, the Mirages being upgraded and equipped with the Grifo-M radar were also made capable of carrying the AIM-9L missiles.

Additional equipment include, for instance, IRCCD Forward Looking Infra Red navigation sensor for reconnaissance applications - laser rangefinder - air data sensors and computer - radar altimeter, and high capacity data transfer unit . In the French upgrade, GEC head-up display and HOTAS similar to Mirage-2000 is used.

Pakistan also acquired South African MUPSOW, a multi-purpose, surgical-strike weapon, designed to neutralize enemy targets such as airfields, bunkers and command-and-control centres at standoff ranges. Pinpoint accuracy is achieved by using an advanced navigation and terminal guidance technology. PAF also testing South African Raptor I and II precision guided munitions. PAF also uses the DART pod, which looks identical to Rafael's LITENING pod and potentially is acquired through South Africa. PAF is also believed to use the R-Darter as its BVR missile for her Mirages. Other Mirage 5F upgrades included an integrated electronic warfare suite, on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS), and single point pressure refueling.


The final ROSE-III upgrade came for 14 more Mirage 5EF by SAGEM and included new Radar Warning Receiver (RWR);new Head-Up-Display (HUD); Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) and new mission computer (Dynamics).

http://www.grandestrategy.com/2013/06/the-paf-mirage-rose-upgrade.html
 
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PAF indeed has done masterful job with mirages,they seem completely different aircraft.
 
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