ONSEIL C 2003 ● RANCE F 2 ENGAGE! MIRAGE 2OOO around the world

DASSAULT AVIATION◆ SNECMA MOTEURS◆ THALES Squadron chat ENGAGE!

2 ● 2003

25 years ago HAF MIRAGE 2000 EG 210, Traditions Twenty five years ago, on March 10th, a phoenix back into the air Dassault Aviation 1978, the Mirage 2000-01 took to the In 1997, HAF Mirage 2000 EG 210 maintains the tradition air for its maiden flight, flown by overran the runway at Skiros Air Base of granting distinctions Dassault Aviation Test Pilot Jean Coureau. and ditched into the sea. The Hellenic to pilots who The Mirage 2000 was subsequently Air Force (HAF), Hellenic Aerospace have logged introduced to service into the French Industry (HAI) and Dassault Aviation 1,000, 2,000 Summary Air Force in 1984, and then into many have successfully rebuilt it. It is now and 3,000 Editorial other Air Forces (, , Peru, flying again and is back to service into flight UAE, , Taiwan and ). Over hours on the the HAF. “Vendée” MIRAGE 2000s 500 Mirage 2000 are in operation Mirage 2000. The first issue of this publication was only throughout the world, and have logged Dedicated patches, 2 in the Hellenic sky over 1 000 000 flight hours. diplomas and trophies are a four-pages newsletter devoted to the awarded during a formal Flight safety corner salvaging of HAF Mirage 2000 EG 210, but ceremony to these pilots at the 5 request of the Staff of their Air Forces. it met with unexpected success from Contact: D. Coulier (Dassault Aviation RDY2: multi role, Mirage 2000 users. Military Customer Support Division) multi function radar 6 As a result, we elected to build on this success and establish this newsletter as a MIRAGE 2000 HAF MIRAGE 2000-5 BGM user conference 8 flies! twice-a-year publication, with the name MIRAGE 2000 Book A Mirage 2000 “ENGAGE!”. user conference Pierre Argouse and Jean-Pierre will be organised HAF superb painting Taillandier cover the history of the “ENGAGE!” is slated to be the link by Dassault scheme... Mirage 2000 in their 1998 released 9 Aviation in 2004. between Mirage 2000 users all over the book simply called “Mirage 2000”. UAE engineers at The week-long world with articles on exercises, exchanges, The book, with lots of superb aircraft event will provide M53-P2 engine Rochefort Air Base pictures by famous aerial photographers, 10 Squadrons traditions, as well as notes operators and More than 200 UAE engineers started is published by Jean-Pierre Taillandier. industry about flight safety and technical papers their ab initio training in January 2002 M53-P3 a new engine specialists with in , this training period is under the skin from the Industry. an opportunity 11 planned to last until 2005. to exchange This project is a spin off from the information on Enjoy! partnership between the French Air Force, 12 Letters maintenance and AIRCO and Dassault Aviation, and will operations issues, and pilot topics as well. lead to the establishment of the French Defense Aeronautical Institute. Restriction notice: This publication is intended for information only. Its contents neither replace nor revise any material in official manuals or publications. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise - translating in other language - without prior written permission of Dassault-Aviation. MIRAGE 2OOO 3000 hours on About our cover: MIRAGE 2000 MIRAGE 2000-5 BGM 505 takes to the air with its HAF livery. THE BEST OF French Air Force WSO Capt Sauvain airpowerment was granted the 3,000 hours patch, About our posters: Mirage 2000-9s flying to UAE. diploma and trophy after flying more French and Greek Mirage 2000s in the Hellenic sky. than 3,000 hours on Mirage 2000 N and D, between 1984 and 2003. The ceremony took place at EC 3/3 “Ardennes” Photo credits Photos by Asp Chauveau (EC 1/5 “Vendée”), A. Paringaux, located at Nancy Air Force Base. F. Robineau, French Air Force, Thales, Snecma Moteurs and Dassault Aviation.

1 “Vendée” MIRAGE 2000s in the Hellenic sky The contenders: The Hellenic Air Force 331

was created in 1988 and has been flying on Mirage 2000 since then. This squadron is mainly dedicated to Air to Surface missions with anti-ship Exocet AM 39 missiles.

Squadrons exchange between: Hellenic Air Force 331 The French Air Force EC 1/5 “Vendée” and was created in 1950 and has been flying on Mirage 2000 since 1988. This squadron is mainly French Air Force EC 1/5 “Vendée” dedicated to Air defence In the frame of the bilateral defence agreement between Greece missions on RDI Mirage 2000 with Super 530 D and Magic II missiles. and France, exchanges between squadrons are planned twice a year, alternately in France and in Greece. The latest exchange between Hellenic Air Force 331 and French Air Force EC 1/5 “Vendée” took place at Tanagra Hellenic Air Force Base, during ten days.

The ring: This exchange took place at Tanagra HAF Base between September 29th and October 10th. The countries flew mixed formations with various Air to Air set ups. For this meeting the EC 1/5 “Vendée” flew to Tanagra with 4 Mirage 2000 RDI single seaters, carrying one 1300 l fuselage tank, two 2000 l wing tanks and Magic II training missiles. The French detachment was supported by a C160 “Transall” and a Casa 235, with 30 engineers and 8 Mirage 2000 pilots, under Lieutenant Colonel Madrange.

2 ENGAGE! 3 “Vendée” MIRAGE 2000s in the Hellenic sky

Debriefing... Flight safety corner The Mirage 2000 availability was excellent, all along the exercise with a 98% rate. No mission was cancelled due to a mechanical failure. The Mirage 2000 demonstrated its benefits in the Greek combat zones, allowing pilots to fly low altitude manoeuvres where the aircraft is particularly efficient. The increased power of the M53-P2 made combat manoeuvres easier for Hellenic pilots. The Hellenic 331 pilots are accomplished air to surface Mission: Fighting! specialists. They were French pilots began their stay by excellent in familiarisation missions, in order to So, the Mirage 2000 newsletter is open designed that way, what entailed such BFM memorise alternate airfields (with their wide, for all you Mirage 2000 drivers (and technical option, all and each one of you, missions and VFR and IFR procedures) and some key flew their all those longing to be part of the gang!). on the flight line, really and actually have landscape elements such as specific Mirage 2000s Well, that’s good news. Among articles the true operational experience of the Hellenic islands and coastline. efficiently. They specially demonstrated about the aircraft and your Squadrons aircraft. As such, it is paramount to have The air to air missions featured: strong capacities for learning and activity and milestones, I am thinking your feed back, your point of view. Many ■ Basic Fighter Manoeuvring in one enhancing air to air BVR about a specific “corner” in which we can times already, we have corrected or versus one set ups, techniques. They are now impatient discuss Flight safety topics. What I mean is introduced new information or procedure ■ Two versus two Full up* to receive their brand new a “free discussion” space: real stories and from remarks coming from you: whenever and Heaters* set ups, Mirage 2000-5 Mk2s... lessons learned, experiences, weird such input is technically correct and/or ■ Four versus two Heaters* versus For the French 1/5 pilots it was circumstances or events during which operationally a good idea, we just spread Full up* set ups. really a very instructive exchange situation assessment proved difficult or it to the entire Mirage 2000 fleet. This (*Heaters means using IR combat missiles only, with a very good atmosphere, and tricky, you know, all these flight stories… synergy is good, we just want to keep it Full-up means using war time configuration interesting missions. The global It could be also a spot to explain what is going on, and we count on you for that. without any limitation.) feeling with Hellenic pilots was “behind” a procedure, or what’s “between As the saying goes, “Flight Safety is a state French Mirage 2000s carried one excellent. “The operation shows 1300 l fuselage tank and training the depth of our friendship and its lines”, why it has been written this way, of mind”. Among this specific “state of Magic II missiles. 16 sorties were our desire to exchange again what is to be understood to a larger extend, mind”, let’s add the will of sharing the achieved on a daily basis by both Cpt Turowski our operational experience in the what the “good old common sense” dictates. tremendous amount of experience that you Air Forces, with an average flight time (EC 1/5 “Vendée”) near future…”. Now, read me loud and clear, it will not have accumulated during now more than a of 1 hour per sortie. All operational be a place to modify, substitute current million flight hours on the ‘2000, stories procedures were in English. procedures or to introduce new ones, it from crew chiefs pre-flight, “down in the will only be a place to make procedures weeds” with the Muds, up in “Contrails more understandable, or to give information county” with the Air Defense guys, to engine around the procedure. shut down and debrief. Some questions can, will, and must come That’s a lot of stories. from you, this should be an exchange zone, I’m waiting to hear them. Q and A’s for the benefit of everybody. Happy landings to you all. Remember that if we can explain why G. Dailloux the aircraft and/or such system has been (Dassault Aviation Flight Safety V.P.)

4 ENGAGE! 5 RDY2 multi role, multi function radar

The RDY-2 is a last Air-to-Ground function: Cutting-edge modularity generation pulse Doppler multi-mode radar and is ■ The Ground Mapping (GM mode), using ■ Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI) It is highly modular comprising around 60 the primordial equipment for Real Beam Ground Mapping technique allows the detection and tracking of ground Shop Replaceable Units (SRUs) and 7 Line the Mirage 2000-5 MK2. displays a radar map of a large ground zone. moving targets, providing tactical situation Replaceable Units (Lrus). It is used for navigation aid or for display and firing priority elaboration (pilot’s The RDY-2 is a technological pre-designation of ground area to be displayed designation of targets to be engaged). and technical evolution of in expand mode. The expand mode, using the first generation RDY with Doppler Beam Sharpening technique provides improved performance a high resolution and expanded display of Air-to-Sea function: and additional capabilities an area around ground point designated by providing significant increase A dedicated Air to Sea mode allows the the pilot. in Air-to-Air, Air-to-ground detection and tracking of sea targets within and Air-to-Sea functions. the search envelope defined by the pilot with tactical situation display and firing priority RDY-2 contributes effectively elaboration. to all the missions performed by the Mirage 2000 MK2. For each Aircraft mission RDY-2 has suitable functions. They are: In Air dominance and Air ■ The Structure located in the nose cone defence missions, it provides and supporting the Forward Assembly, long range look-up and look- the Transmitter, the Exciter-Receiver and down detection and tracking the Data-Processing. of multiple targets for beyond ■ The Programmable Signal Processing visual range interception. ■ Counter Mapping mode enables the display (PSP) located in the bay. For close range engagement of hazardous ground echoes, situated above ■ it provides quick acquisition a clearance plane adjusted by the pilot. The radome. of highly manoeuvring target. It provides flying aid for low level navigation Power Supply SRU It can operate in conjunction and blind penetration over hilly terrain. State of the art technology: with RF missiles, IR missiles Employing the most recent technologies and guns. Air-to-Air function: ■ In combat situations at medium or short in radar systems, RDY-2 capitalises on In Navigation, high resolution range, RDY-2 assists the pilot through dedicated the experience and on the knowledge of mapping allows accurate navigation For long range engagement, Velocity Search quick acquisition modes: Boresight aiming - Thales Airborne Systems. by updating Aircraft position and Range While Search modes are available: Vertical search - HUD search, Slaving modes, To meet all the requirement and to insure and ground targets identification Sectorial scan. ■ Velocity search (V.S.) mode enables very all the assigned missions the most recent and marking. long-range detection of incoming air targets To reduce the pilot work load, and to enhance technologies and components are used. IF SRU In Air to surface missions, it in look up and look down conditions within detection and tracking capabilities, high ■ Antenna and servomechanisms have been detects and tracks static or moving a pilot’s selected search domain. automation allows automatic adaptive scanning redesigned. targets and provides accurate ■ Range While Search (RWS) mode enables and wave form management. weapon target designation. ■ long range detection and automatic tracks A new Programmable Signal Processing has It can operate in conjunction opening within a search domain defined been developed. with guns, conventional or ■ Air to Ground Ranging performs a and controlled by the pilot (TWS-MAN mode). ■ The last generation of frequencies synthesis guided weapons. continuous computation of the distance In TWS-AUTO mode, automatic tracking with techniques allows high spectrum purity. Due to high automation and clear Tactical Situation display and secured between the Aircraft and the ground along ■ HOTAS controls, RDY-2 is firing priority assessment is provided. Raid a line of sight controlled by the WDNS. This is Low noise / high dynamic receiver and Hyper Frequency SRU suitable for single seat Aircraft Assessment with zoom allows formation used for navigation updating and air to ground high speed analogical to digital conversion operation. assessment and enhanced tactical situation armament delivery. are used. display and analysis. ■ In close range engagement Single Target Tracking (STT) is used for dynamic tracking of highly manoeuvring target.

This modular architecture enables easy and quick maintenance.

6 ENGAGE! 7 HAF MIRAGE 2000-5 BGM FLIES! HAF SUPERB PAINTING SCHEME...

On 24 June 2003, Captain Leonidas KARANATSIS from the HAF was the first Hellenic pilot to fly the Mirage 2000-5 BGM (S/N 505). The S/N 505 is a brand new Mirage 2000-5 Mk2 used as development aircraft for the Hellenic Air Force Mirage 2000-5 Mk2 contract. This 1.5 flight hour was successfully performed in the frame of the “In-Flight Evaluation” (IFE), by the HAF, of their Mirage 2000-5 Mk2 procurement program. This flight allowed the evaluation of the Air-to-Ground functions. Captain Leonidas KARANATSIS, who is a Mirage 2000 EGM/BGM fighter pilot in the HAF, is a member of the In-Flight Evaluation Captain Leonidas KARANATSIS, 35, has logged Project Group (IFE-PG) who is in charge nearly 1,000 F/H on Mirage 2000E and is currently of performing the evaluation prior to the assigned at Tanagra (Greece) AFB, attached to Air Operations Headquarter. delivery of the Mirage 2000-5s to the HAF. The Mirage 2000-5 BGM 505 flew out of the Bordeaux Merignac plant of Dassault Aviation on August 20th , 2003 in its new HAF painting scheme. It is slated to fly at the Istres Flight Test Center of Dassault Aviation as a development aircraft assigned to the Mirage 2000-5 EGM/BGM program.

8 ENGAGE! 9 a new engine M53-P2engine M53-P3 under the skin

M53 family totals over Engine characteristics Performance specifications Lower cost of ownership, greater Mirage 2000s deployed by France (about To meet these goals, the new engine ■ Single-shaft turbofan ■ Thrust with afterburner: 95 kN operability, state-of-the-art control half of the total fleet) will remain in service integrates the latest technologies, for instance one million flight-hours technologies… The Snecma Moteurs until at least 2025, while those deployed by a 100% full authority digital engine control ■ 3-stage low-pressure compressor (21,400 lb) The M53 engine powers all M53-P2 is being transformed export customers - Egypt, United Arab (FADEC); the control system is now all-digital ■ 5-stage high-pressure compressor ■ Thrust without afterburner: 64 kN versions of the Mirage 2000 (14,500 lb) into the enhanced performance Emirates, Greece, India, Peru, Qatar and and fully redundant. These technologies are ■ Annular combustor M53-P3 version. Taiwan - could be in operation until 2030 derived from those employed on other fighter, and is deployed on ■ Specific fuel consumption with afterburner: ■ Cooled two-stage turbine or even 2035. Snecma Moteurs engines, most notably four continents. Combining 2.1 kg/daN.h The M53 engine was originally developed ■ Annular afterburner the M88 and the CFM56. performance and reliability, it ■ Specific fuel consumption without afterburner: to power Dassault Aviation’s Mirage fighters. Snecma Moteurs asked Mirage 2000 operators offers excellent controllability ■ Multi-flap convergent 0.9 kg/daN.h In 1986, it underwent a first major evolution, what changes they wanted to see in In addition to the new control system and variable-geometry nozzle and a very broad flight envelope, ■ Airflow: 94 kg/sec. from the M53-5 to the current M53-P2 version. the M53-P2. Based on their answers, new turbine, the M53-P3 will also come in without throttle restrictions ■ Full authority digital control ■ Turbine entry temperature (TET): 1,600 K Today, the M53-P2 powers over 500 Mirage Snecma Moteurs focused on two areas: an optional higher-thrust version. from very low speed all the way ■ Modular, on-condition maintenance 2000 fighters around the world, and has lowering the overall cost of ownership, and (1,327°C) For the moment, this mid-life upgrade is to Mach 2.2. In short, it is (12 engine modules) logged over one million hours in flight. a technical upgrade to incorporate state-of- ■ Compression ratio: 9.8 primarily targeting the retrofit market. perfectly suited to all modern ■ Length: 5,070 mm But its career is far from over: recent market the-art technologies on the control system ■ Bypass ratio: 0.36 Customers deploying Mirage 2000 fleets combat aircraft missions. studies show that the engine will be powering and the turbines. The enhanced engine ■ Inlet diameter: 796 mm will be able to retrofit their engines with the front-line fighters for many years to come. project was dubbed the M53-P3. The latest version features ■ Weight: 1,515 kg new control system and turbine. Subsequently, a new autothrottle, enabling Design engineers identified three technical all of these modifications will be applied automatic engine control to objectives: faster acceleration, improved to original equipment M53-P3 engines. maintain the airspeed chosen specific fuel consumption (SFC) and simplified by the pilot. backup systems. To date, M53 engines have Reducing the cost of ownership depends logged over one million hours on increasing the lifespan of hot parts, and in flight. At the end of 2003, simplifying maintainability, especially for nearly 650 of these engines will the control system. be in service worldwide.

10 ENGAGE! 11 ENGAGE! 2 ● 2003 Letters

This page will be dedicated to your letters and our answers concerning all subjects around “ENGAGE!”. We would like: ■ to have your feed back about this new publication, ■ to collect all the remarks you could point out about the articles, ■ to answer your questions when you need more information.

Do not hesitate to send us as much as you can about Mirage 2000‘s events around the world. We would be pleased to receive: ■ all the pictures you may have about this fabulous aircraft, ■ any operational user article you would like to see in this publication, such as exercises, exchanges, Squadrons traditions, and more, ■ some specific spotters photos keen on Mirage 2000.

Because “ENGAGE!” is, above all, your publication, because “ENGAGE!” is the link between all Mirage 2000 users!

So, in other words, we’d like to hear from you, send your letters to: Hervé Hamon, Dassault Aviation, (DGI), 78, quai Marcel Dassault, 92552 Saint-Cloud, Cedex 300 – France, Fax: (+33) 1 47 11 61 10 or at: [email protected]

www.dassault-aviation.com www.snecma-moteurs.com www.thales-airbornesystems.com

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