Moroccan Mirage F1 Upgrade

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19 years 4 months

Posts: 84

Astrac modernises Morocco's Mirages

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Included in rhe Astrac modernisation package of the Royal Moroccan Air Force for the Mirage F1 is the new AASM precision guided stand-off bomb, as well as Corail flare launcher and Phimat chaff dispenser (all seen here in place). All four AASM 250 kg rocket-bombs can be launched at different targets well away from the ennemy's medium and short ranges air defences.

By Jean-Michel Guhl
in Paris, France

The 2007 Paris Air Show gave Astrac — the joint-venture created in November 2005, at the French Ministry of Defence's request, by Thales and Sagem Défense Sécurité (SAFRAN) — an opportunity to show what the new company is all about: high-level all-round upgrade refurbishing of third generation fighters.

Capitalizing on the current Royal Air Forces of Morocco’s program for the modernisation of its entire Mirage F1 fleet (a total of 27 remaining Mirage F1CH and EH), Astrac exhibited a complete offer, including two central computers, SIGMA-type GPS-hybrid navigation systems (both developed by Sagem Défense Sécurité), MICA EM and IR air-to-air missiles provided by MBDA. For this retrofitting solution, Thales is contributing with a RDY3 multi-function radar, a Damocles day/night laser designation pod, a PAJ FA type pod for electronic warfare self-protection and a radar Warning Receiver (RWR). The different units interface via a 1553 bus. 8)

For the air-to-air mission, the multi-function/multi-target radar can be used to fire MICA and Magic 2 missiles. To meet air-to-ground mission requirements, Astrac offers Sagem Défense Sécurité’s standoff AASM air-to-ground modular weapon supported by a mission preparation system by Sagem Défense Sécurité and a debriefing systems from Thales. The weapon can be complemented by laser guided weapons using the Damocles laser designation pod.

Astrac offer, which is compatible with NVGs, also includes a 'zero-zero' ejection seat and a latest-generation glass cockpit MMI with Hands on Thottle and Shift (HOTAS) controls. As an option, the system can also be complemented by a system for deploying anti-ship weapons, such as MBDA’s Exocet AM 39.

Ideal for air forces facing strong budget constraints, the Astrac modernising solution offers added value to a fighter-bomber like the Mirage F1, an aircraft which still in operational with a dozen air arms where it provides good service thanks to the reliability of its single Snecma Atar 9K50 turbojet.

Sold in about 740 copies to eleven different countries, the Mirage F1 is still in operational service today in Ecuador, France, Jordan, Libya, Spain and Morocco. A batch of those once belonging to South Africa (Mirage F1AZ) have meanwhile been sold to Gabon, about a dozen of Iraq's Mirage F1EQs 'given' by Saddam Hussein to Iran while those of Kuwait are stored and those of Qatar sold to Spain. Greece's Elleniki Polemiki Aeroporia's last Mirage F1s were retired two years ago and replaced by Mirage 2000-5 Mk.2s, the final batch of which is now being delivered by Dassault-Aviation, thus marking the end of production for the Mirage 2000 too.

So far, only the Mirage F1s of the Spanish Air Force have been fully modernised by Thales and EADS to an extent comparable with the Astrac endeavour. While about a dozen Libyan Air Force Mirage F1s are due to be modernised by Dassault-Aviation. Therefore, the modernisation market for the Mirage F1 is still very open. [Paris-06-15-2007]
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One of Astrac's first modernisation programme now in full swing is the Royal Moroccan Air Force Mirage F1 contract

http://www.question-defense.info/worlddefencenews/astracmiragef1.html

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Original post

Member for

16 years 10 months

Posts: 5

quite a big modernisation program...could it be that they are preparing for rafales in the future?

AASM, MICA, Damocles...

anyway this gives the Moroccan air force a great advantage over their old capabilities.

Member for

19 years 4 months

Posts: 5,707

quite a big modernisation program...could it be that they are preparing for rafales in the future?

AASM, MICA, Damocles...

anyway this gives the Moroccan air force a great advantage over their old capabilities.

If anything I would say that it means that they are not going to procure the Rafale in the near future, this is a very deep modernisation that likely cost alot and is aimed at a significant life extension. The one thing that surprises me is that they have not included the Thales R400 radar.

Member for

21 years

Posts: 143

hey thanks for sharing!!!

Member for

19 years 3 months

Posts: 1,877

wow ! quite a comprehensive upgrade for the F1s..I'm a little surprised that the F1's nose can fit a RDY-3 size antenna..whats the diameter of the F1s nose and the size of the RDY-3 antenna ?

Member for

18 years 3 months

Posts: 1,447

Lol!
I had a special acces to this stand (sagem) today. I could play with IR/TV camera turet zooming on the GIGN or raid 's snipers on the roof of a building in order to protect french president when he came on dassault's stand!:D

I could also see the new AASM family, 125, 250, 500 and 1000kg on this stand and the sperwer operator system.

Member for

18 years 9 months

Posts: 13,432

If anything I would say that it means that they are not going to procure the Rafale in the near future, this is a very deep modernisation that likely cost alot and is aimed at a significant life extension. The one thing that surprises me is that they have not included the Thales R400 radar.

When this was first announced, in 2005, it was said it included RC400, & Flight is still saying so -

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/06/20/214936/upgraded-moroccan-mirage-marks-first-signing-for-astrac.html

BTW, what is RDY-3? Thales website has RC400 & RDY-2. No RDY-3. RC400 is derived from RDY - is this just a relabelling?

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 670

Swerve, a link to RDY-3 brochure from Thales website.

Thanks to Sumeet at BRF.

Member for

19 years 4 months

Posts: 5,707

When this was first announced, in 2005, it was said it included RC400, & Flight is still saying so -

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/06/20/214936/upgraded-moroccan-mirage-marks-first-signing-for-astrac.html

BTW, what is RDY-3? Thales website has RC400 & RDY-2. No RDY-3. RC400 is derived from RDY - is this just a relabelling?

It could certainly be possible.:confused:

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17 years 7 months

Posts: 4,951

OT - more concerned with the RDY-3

Crazy how they are marketing it for more than Mirage 2000. Its also being pimped for MiG-29, Mirage F.1, Mirage V, and India's LCA. Mirage V wasn't really supposed to be the type to use an air to air radar, it was supposed to be a third generation ground attack warplane. I wonder if the integration of the RDY-3 suddenly makes these third gen specialized aircraft more or less into fourth gen multipurpose warplanes.

Member for

18 years 9 months

Posts: 13,432

Swerve, a link to RDY-3 brochure from Thales website.

Thanks to Sumeet at BRF.

Thanks.

Interesting. The description reads very much like that of the RC400. Ah - a dead giveaway. Compare with this RC400 brochure, & you see that they have exactly the same picture of the various elements.
http://www.thalesgroup.com/all/pdf/rc400.pdf

I conclude that RDY-3 is just another name for RC400. :D

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19 years 4 months

Posts: 5,707

Thanks.

Interesting. The description reads very much like that of the RC400. Ah - a dead giveaway. Compare with this RC400 brochure, & you see that they have exactly the same picture of the various elements.
http://www.thalesgroup.com/all/pdf/rc400.pdf

I conclude that RDY-3 is just another name for RC400. :D

So just a bit of pointless re-naming then. The only thing this is missing is the Klimov SM-95 (RD-93 derivative) engine as flown on the South African Mirage F1 (single prototype), although if they did that they would only be an airframe away from a new plane. It would however be interesting to compare such a bird to the FC-1.:diablo:

Member for

19 years 9 months

Posts: 161

Swerve

Correct! Last week I had the opportunity to talk with the Thales guy responsible for this programme (ASTRAC is a Thales/Sagem jv) and he constantly referred to the radar as the RC400.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 7,989

Nice to finally see the F-1 get an upgrade of this magnitude.

The MiG-21 and F-4 have both gotten their fair share of good upgrade treatment.

The F-1 now seems to be getting some of the same.

Member for

18 years 9 months

Posts: 13,432

Nice to finally see the F-1 get an upgrade of this magnitude.

The MiG-21 and F-4 have both gotten their fair share of good upgrade treatment.

The F-1 now seems to be getting some of the same.

The contract was signed 2005, work began 2006. Should be in service soon. Looks like a relatively (stress the relatively! A deep upgrade like this costs a fair bit) cheap way to get a very effective aircraft. IIRC there are are some stored Mirage F.1 with enough airframe hours left to make such an upgrade worthwhile, so there's a potential supply of more airframes for existing users or even for new users.

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18 years 10 months

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I agree that using AASM / Mica / Damoclès really paves the way for the future use of the Rafale by the moroccan (sp?) air force.

Nic

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19 years 4 months

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There seems to be some sort of fairing underneath the forward fuselage forward of the nose wheel, is this some sort of optical device? FLIR maybe- like on the pakistani Rose-3 Mirages?

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19 years 9 months

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The contract was signed 2005, work began 2006. Should be in service soon.

Work began end of 2006. Thales said the first would be delivered in three years.

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24 years 2 months

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It takes three years to upgrade a Mirage F-1?

Member for

19 years 3 months

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There seems to be some sort of fairing underneath the forward fuselage forward of the nose wheel, is this some sort of optical device? FLIR maybe- like on the pakistani Rose-3 Mirages?

Sealord, There was always the Mirage F1-C versions that had the air-intercept Cyrano IV Radar. South Africa ordered and eventually assembled a version concentrating on ground attack called the F1-AZ. Although the nose profile looked the same, a close examination reveals not a glassfibre radome, but a metal nose tipped at the end by an AIDA ranging radar. As this is vastly smaller than the Cyrano, space was there to fit a retractable refueling probe simialr to the Super Etendards, and a laser rangefinder.

Once the Mirage 2000 entered service, surplus Air defence F1-C airframes in France were recycled to make them into the F1-CT tactical ground attack aircraft. It has the best of both worlds in that it features the undernose laser rangefinder, as well as the full Cyrano radar system, albeit updated from IV to IVM-R. There was obviously no space left for a retractable fuel probe, but the original F1-C in French service had a small fuselage extension plug in front of windsacreen that enabled the addition of a fixed refueling probe. It is this version that is used in the illustration you mention above.

There was also the recce F1CR with Thomson TRT-33 or TRT-40 cameras under the nose, but this fairing is different and more symmetrical looking.

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20 years 7 months

Posts: 10,217

It takes three years to upgrade a Mirage F-1?
It takes three years to complete system integration and to perform the actual upgrade. I suspect that at the time contract was signed the integration was far from complete. Justr like they are offering Rafale F3s, Typhoon Tranche whatever, MiG-35s, Super Hornets with AESA or F-35s.