Mirage-2000, a key part of IAF’s precision strike element, has one of the best flight safety records

Inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 1985, the French Dassault Mirage-2000 has formed a key component of the IAF’s precision strike capability for 40 years, having been involved in several operations, including the Kargil conflict and the air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

On February 6, the IAF suffered its 14^th accident involving this aircraft, when a two-seater variant crashed near its home base, Gwalior, during a routine training sortie. The two pilots were able to eject safely. So far, seven pilots have lost their lives in Mirage 2000 accidents over the years.

Nonetheless, this aircraft boasts of one of the best flight safety records in the IAF’s fighter fleet. The first crash took place in April 1987 when an aircraft on a low-level night navigation sortie flew into a hill, killing the pilot, a Flight Lieutenant.

Among the prominent crashes involving the Mirage-2000 are the one on the Air Force Day flypast in 1989, an ejection involving an Air Marshal and the death of two pilots during acceptance trials of a newly overhauled aircraft.

A Mirage 2000 was performing low-level aerobatics on October 8, 1989, as part of Air Force Day celebrations at Palm Air Force Station in New Delhi, when it crashed while executing vertical rolls, killing its pilot, a Wing Commander.

In February 2012, a two-seater variant flown by Air Marshal Anil Chopra, then posted as the Air Officer-in-Charge Personnel at Air Headquarters and on an official visit to the Gwalior airbase, and a Wing Commander, suffered a technical defect, forcing both to eject. The Air Marshal was the ‘Commodore Commandant’ of No.1 Squadron, ‘Tigers’, and the other officer was the squadron’s Commanding Officer.

A two-seater crashed during a take-off run from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited airport in Bengaluru during post-upgradation acceptance trials in February 2019. Two test pilots, both Squadron Leaders from the IAF’s Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment, ejected, but were killed after they fell in the aircraft’s burning wreckage.

In January 2023, a Mirage-2000 was lost after a mid-air collision with a Sukhoi-30 fighter during a dogfight training exercise being conducted by the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment near Gwalior, killing the Wing Commander flying it. The Sukhoi also crashed, but it’s pilots escaped with minor injuries.

The IAF operates three squadrons of Mirage-2000 — No.1 ‘Tigers’, No.7 ‘Battle Axe’ and No.9 ‘Wolf Pack’, all of which are based with No.40 Wing at Maharajpur Air Force Station on the outskirts of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

It is a multi-role single-engine, delta wing, fourth-generation fighter that can undertake ground attack as well as air defence missions, with a top speed of Mach 2.2 and the capability to carry up to 6,500 kg of ordnance, including long range air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, precision-guided munitions and bombs.

The move to procure the Mirage-2000 began in 1980 in response to reports of Pakistan acquiring the F-16 from the US. In December 1980, two IAF test pilots travelled to France to evaluate the Mirage-2000.

Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting France on February 10-12, where a deal to procure 26 Rafale-M aircraft for the Indian Navy, which are also produced by Dassault, is expected to figure on the agenda, along with a few other defence-related procurements. The Rafale, 36 of which have also been inducted by the IAF into two squadrons, was developed by France to complement and subsequently replace the Mirage-2000.

A deal was signed between India and France in 1982 for 40 aircraft, including four two-seater trainer variants, and the first aircraft was handed over to the IAF in June 1985. Acquisition of the Mirage-2000 also prompted the erstwhile Soviet Union to offer its latest fighter, the MiG-29 to India, which was also inducted later.

The IAF’s Mirage-2000 first flew combat sorties in the 1999 Kargil conflict, where they were called upon to carry out pin-point strikes on enemy positions along the Line of Control. The aircraft were hurriedly modified to use laser-guided bombs and flew over 500 sorties during the conflict, dropping about 55,000 kg of ordnance. The use of these aircraft during Operation Safed Sagar, as the aerial component of the conflict was code-named, was considered a game changer.

On February 26, 2019, 12 Mirage-2000s, equipped with Israeli Spice-2000 precision-guided bombs, were used to carry out airstrikes on terrorist training camps at Balakot across the Line of Control in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The next day, these aircraft, along with Su-30MKIs, MiG-29s and MiG-21s, formed part of the IAF’s response force against Pakistan Air Force’s possible retaliation.

The stand-off with China along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh in 2020 again saw the Mirage-2000 being mobilised. Detachments of these aircraft were positioned at forward airbases and carried out familiarisation sorties and air patrols.

Though ageing, with production having ended in 2007, the IAF expects the Mirage-2000 to serve beyond 2035 and towards this end has been modernising and upgrading the fleet in phases with newer avionics and weapons. A major upgrade programme was initiated in 2011 and the first refurbished aircraft, designated 2000-I, was handed over to India by France in 2015.

Also, additional airframes are being procured from France. A few years ago, nine aircraft were bought from France. Subsequently, France agreed to 24 more fighters, out of which a few would be used to cannibalise parts to maintain the existing fleet.