The visit of French President Jacques Chirac to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in mid-December 1997 will clear the way for the sale of up to 20 more Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft for the UAE air force.
Dassault is negotiating the final details with the UAE centring on supplying the Mirage 2000-9. These include radar and avionics upgrades to allow the aircraft to operate with the Matra BAe Dynamics Mica active-radar beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile.
The UAE will also fit its aircraft with the imaging-infra-red variant of the Mica, or the Matra BAe Dynamics Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) as a replacement for the Magic infra-red-guided dogfight missile. Choice of the latter would mark the first export sale of the ASRAAM.
The Mirage 2000-9 procurement covers attrition, and will also bolster the UAE's air-defence capability. There is still a question mark over whether the aircraft will be new-build, or drawn from existing stocks in France.
French attempts to bundle together the sale of the Mirage 2000-9 with the Rafale - the latter being offered to meet the UAE's strike fighter requirement - have proved unsuccessful.
While the UAE has decided on the Mirage 2000 upgrade, it continues to evaluate its future strike-fighter requirement for 40-plus aircraft. Alongside Dassault, Lockheed Martin is proposing a the Block 60 variant of the F-16, while British Aerospace is pushing the Eurofighter EF2000.
Competitors expect the UAE to make a decision by mid-1998, although, given the drawn-out nature of the procurement, some bidders suggest that a decision could slip to the end of the year.
The F-16 Block 60 offer is understood to include the Hughes AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). The active radar-guided AMRAAM had, up until the UAE competition, not been cleared for the Gulf states.
Source: Flight International
