Dassault Mirage 2000 Fighter

The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a single engine, single seat jet fighter and multi role combat aircraft produced by French manufacturer Avions Marcel Dassault Breguet Aviation, today known as Dassault Aviation. Mirage 2000 has been operational with the French Air Force since 1984, and has been selected by Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Greece, India, Peru, Qatar, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates. By 2009, over 600 Mirage 2000 aircraft were in the service worldwide. The Mirage 2000 is based on the Dassault Mirage III. The mirage 2000N is a two seat nuclear strike variant. The Mirage 2000D is a two seat fighter bomber variant. The Mirage 2000 is very similar to the Mirage III/5 and 50, thought it is not a variant of the Mirage III/5 or 50 but an entirely new aircraft with advanced interceptor controls.

Mirage 2000 consists of nine hard points for carrying weapons system payloads: five on the fuselage and two on each wing. The single seat version of Mirage 2000 is also armed with two internally mounted, high firing rate 30mm guns. Mirage 2000 air to air weapons include the MICA multi target air to air to air intercept and combat missiles, and the Magic 2 combat missiles, both from MBDA. MICA supports a maximum operating range of 60km. The aircraft can carry four MICA missiles, two Magic missiles and three drop tanks simultaneously. The Mirage 2000-5 can fire the MBDA super 530D missile or the MBDA sky flash air to air missile as an alternative to the MICA missile.

Mirage 2000 is also equipped to carry a range of air to surface missiles and weapons, including laser guided bombs. This weapon system include the MBDA BGL 1000 laser guided bomb, MBDA AS30L, MBDA Armat anti-radar missile, MBDA AM39 Exocet anti-ship missile, MBDA rocket launchers, MBDA Apache stand-off weapon, and the stealthy cruise missile, SCALP.

Specifications:

Country of Origin : France

Builder team        : Dassault Aviation, SNECMA, Thomson-CSF

First flight           : March, 1978 (Mirage 2000C)

                            : February, 1993 (Mirage 2000D)

Similar aircraft : Mirage III/5

                         : Kfir

                       : Viggen

Role               : Interceptor (Mirage 2000C), All weather night and day missions such as                              Battlefield  Air Interdiction (BAI) (Mirage 2000D)

Length: 50 ft, 3in (14.36 m)

Span: 29 ft, 5in (9.13 m)

Height: 5.30 m

Empty weight: 7,600 kg (Mirage 2000C)

Maximum weight: 16,500 kg

Maximum armament weight: 5,900 kg (Mirage 2000C)

Power plant: SNECMA M 53 P2 jet engine

Maximum speed: Mach 1.2 (low altitudes) and Mach 2.2 (high altitudes)

Rate of climb: 17,000 m/min

Ceiling: Above 50,000 ft (16,500 m)

Combat radius: 1,000 nm (1,850 km)

Service in India:

The sale of American built F-16s to Pakistan prompted India to enter talks with France regarding the purchase of the Mirage 2000.