AIRCRAFT OF PAKISTAN AIR FORCE

 DASSAULT AVIATION MIRAGE-III

MIRAGE-III
(1967 till date)

The Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France by Dassault Aviation during the late 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. It was a successful fighter aircraft, being sold to many air forces around the world and remaining in production for over a decade. Many air forces still fly Mirage IIIs or variants as front-line equipment today.

First new build Dassault Mirage IIIEP was inducted in Pakistan Air Force service during 1967. A total of 3 Mirage IIIDP, 18 Mirage IIIEP, 3 Mirage IIIRP were delivered in 1968-1971. 10 more Mirage IIIRPs were ordered in August 1975 for delivery in 1977, bringing Mirage IIIRPs total to 13. Mirage III fleet was upgraded with Litton LW-33 navigation / attack system and Thomson-CSF HUD under service life extension programme in November 1982.

43 second-hand Mirage IIIO, 7 Mirage IIIOD from Australian Air Force were procured and delivered in 1990. 12 were overhauled and put into service, 33 were selected for upgrade after inspection and 5 aircraft were broken up for spare parts

22 used Mirage IIIEE, 2 Mirage IIIDE from Spanish Air force were delivered in the 1990s. 9 second hand Mirage IIIELs of Lebanese Air Force were delivered in 1990s.

40 used Mirage IIIE from French Air Force were delivered from 1996 onwards. Delivery of used Mirage III/5 from France was suspended in 1999 due to Kargil conflict, however first batch of 8 aircraft were delivered in April 1999, next batch of 8 aircraft may have been delivered

In 2004 Pakistan Air Force finalised a deal with Libya to buy its fleet of 50 Mirage IIIs and Vs, 150 sealed pack engines and a huge quantity of Mirage spares. With these airframes, Pakistan operates more Mirages than the French Air Force. These jets are being cannibalized for spare parts to provide spares for the PAF fleet of Mirages for the next seven to ten years

Mirage IIIs are armed with 2×30mm (1.18 in) DEFA 552 cannons. 4000 kg combat load can be carried on 5 hard points (1 × under fuselage, 4 × under wing). Combat load consist a combination of rockets, missiles, guided / non guided bombs, reconnaissance pods and drop tanks.