Mirage 2000(Dassault )

The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter based on the Mirage III for the French Air Force (Armée de l'Air). The Mirage 2000 evolved into a multirole aircraft with several variants developed, with sales to a number of nations. The variants include the Mirage 2000N and 2000D strike variants, the improved Mirage 2000-5 and several export variants.Over 600 aircraft were built and it has been in service with nine nations

The Mirage 2000 features a low-set thin delta wing with cambered section, 58 degrees leading-edge sweep and moderately blended root; area-ruled fuselage. The flight surfaces on the wings are composed of four elevons and four leading edge slats. Its neutral point is in front of its centre of gravity, giving the fighter relaxed stability to enhance maneuverability.

It incorporates negative stability and fly-by-wire controls with four analog computers. An airbrake is fitted above and below each wing in an arrangement very similar to that of the Mirage III. A noticeably taller tailfin allows the pilot to retain control at higher angles of attack, assisted by the small strakes mounted along each air intake.

The Mirage 2000 is equipped with built-in twin DEFA 554 autocannon (now GIAT 30–550 F4) 30 mm revolver-type cannons with 125 rounds each. The cannons have selectable fire rates of 1,200 or 1,800 rate of fire rounds per minute. Each round weighs 275 grams (9.7 oz) and has a muzzle velocity of around 800 metres per second (2,600 ft/s). The Mirage 2000 can carry up to 6.3 tonnes (14,000 lb) (or 7 tonnes for −9 version) of stores on nine pylons, with two pylons on each wing and five under the fuselage. External stores can include Matra Super 530 medium-range semi-active radar-guided air-to-air missile on the inboard wing pylons and underbelly, and Matra Magic short-range infrared-seeking AAM on the outboard wing pylons. Other short-range missiles such as the AIM-9J/L/P are compatible and are often used on Mirages which have been exported, because Magic itself was meant as 'Sidewinder compatible'. The Mirage 2000C and later versions can carry the lighter, more advanced MBDA MICA instead of the Super 530D

India has assigned a nuclear strike role to its Mirage 2000 squadrons in service with the IAF since 1985. In 1999 when the Kargil conflict broke out, the Mirage 2000 performed remarkably well during the whole conflict in the high Himalayas, even though the Mirages supplied to India had limited air interdiction capability and had to be heavily modified to drop laser-guided bombs as well as conventional unguided bombs. Two Mirage squadrons flew a total of 515 sorties, and in 240 strike missions dropped 55,000 kg (121,000 lb) of ordnance. Easy maintenance and a very high sortie rate made the Mirage 2000 one of the most efficient fighters of the IAF in the conflict. There are reports that the IAF qualified Soviet-designed missiles with the Mirage 2000, such as the R-27 (NATO AA-10 Alamo) AAM.

compiled by XENOCIDE