Talks are underway in Delhi for Qatar to sell a dozen Mirage 2000 fighters to India. The Mirages, part of the fleet of the Emirate of Qatar are said to be in good condition. The Qatari Emiri Air Force (QEAF) inducted the aircraft in 1997 three years after it signed a deal with France to replace its French-
origin Mirage F-1EDAs. India on the other hand inducted its first seven Mirage fighters on June 29, 1985, with the aircraft going to 7 Squadron (Battleaxes).
The Indian Air Force (IAF) had received the first 40 aircraft within a year of delivery of the first set of the potent fighters. The IAF went on to order another nine aircraft in 1986, the last of which was received in 1994. This shows that the Qatari Mirages are relatively of more recent vintage than their Indian counterparts. But the Qataris are said to be seeking Rs 5,000 crore for the 12 aircraft. of which three are the two-seater variants. The QEAF has replaced the Mirage-2000s in its service with the Rafale. The aircraft offered by Qatar are fully airworthy and will come with spares and weapon systems.
The Mirage has served the Indian Air Force, well. The IAF first used the fighters in 1987 during Operation Poomalai. The IAF dropped food and other supplies in the Tamil-dominated city of Jaffna which was besieged by Sri Lankan army. Mirages from 7 Squadron armed with Matra Magic Air-to-Air Missiles escorted the Antonov-32s which delivered the supplies. A year later, in 1988, Mirages from the same squadron flew over Male in support of Operation Cactus, to thwart an attempted coup in Maldives.
The Mirages also played a yeoman’s role in the Kargil conflict where key objectives such as Tiger Hill and Muntho Dhalo were bombed by the aircraft. The IAF Mirages flew over 500 sorties to bomb targets or as
escorts for strike aircraft. The Mirage fleet dropped over 55,0000 kgs of bombs during the conflict. Both dumb and smart munitions were employed against the enemy.
Three years later in 2002, the Mirages were once again used during Operation Parakram when the Pakistani Army once again found itself at the receiving end. Perhaps the most prominent use of the Mirage was during the IAF bombing raid of Balakot in Pakistan. The aircraft were also used for display of force against the Chinese during the stand-off after the Galwan incident.
The IAF is upgrading its Mirage fleet under a USD 2.2 billion upgrade plan and also has plans to replace the aircraft with the Tejas Mk-2 in the middle of the next decade. The air force received 24 second-hand airframes from France in order to shore up its supply of spare parts for the out-of-production fighter. Eight of these airframes are still airworthy.
