- Yes
- No
Hello everyone and welcome to this new suggestion.
Today I present to you the original version of a plane that is already well known in the game, I am of course talking about the Mirage 2000C S1.
History :
The Mirage 2000 is a fighter aircraft designed by Dassault Aviation in the late 1970s to meet the air defense needs of the French Air Force. Successor to the Mirage III, 5 and F1, it was distinguished by its delta-wing configuration and the introduction of fly-by-wire flight controls, a major advance for the time. The first flight of the Mirage 2000 took place on 1978, and it entered service in 1983. Originally, the aircraft was intended only for air superiority, but it later evolved into multirole versions.
The Mirage 2000C S1 :
The Mirage 2000C S1 is the first production series of the Mirage 2000. This version, which was put into service without most of its offensive capabilities, concerns aircraft 1 to 15. The aircraft is equipped with a less powerful engine than its successors, less weapons and a rather poor radar.
Indeed, the commissioning of the first Mirage 2000s was somewhat hasty; the desired radar (the RDI) was not operational, and the air force had to make do with an ‘early’ variant of the RDM radar, which had poor look-down detection capabilities (at this point in its development, the RDM was very similar to the Cyrano IV found on the Mirage F1). The engine used, the SNECMA M53-5, is similar to the M53-2 used on the Mirage F1, the main modification being the rotor’s rotational speed, allowing for better thrust in afterburner but slightly less dry thrust. Finally, this version of the Mirage 2000 has very little armament; the aircraft is indeed equipped only with two 30mm DEFA 530 cannons (standard for French aircraft) and two Magic 1 missiles.
3 fighter squadrons were equipped with the Mirage 2000C S1, the 2/2 Côte d’Or, the 2/2 Champagne and the 3/3 Ardenne (Delivery of the first aircraft in 1983). However, this standard was only used for a short time, the first Mirage 2000C S2 (providing radar-guided missile firing) having been delivered in 1984. The F1 standard aircraft were therefore either improved to correspond to the higher standard or were left as is and then decommissioned in the years that followed.
Radar
The radar used on this version of the Mirage 2000 is therefore the early RDM radar. This multimode radar allows you to search for targets over 120° in front of the aircraft (horizontally and vertically) and can detect 90% of targets with a reflective surface of 5m² at 50nm.
The radar allows different scanning modes and patterns to detect aerial targets up to 60nm and cover angles of up to 120° by 30°. This radar also allows the detection of naval targets; in fact, the manufacturer announces a ship detection capability at 60nm using the 120° detection pattern.
However, this version of the RDM has little downward detection capability (an improvement that will come with the RDM radars of the Mirage 2000C S2), making it a radar poorly suited for low target search but more suited for interception.
Weapons
The armament system of the Mirage 2000C S1 is rather simple. The aircraft has no air-to-ground weapon carrying capability, and only two missiles are available for the wingtip mounts.
- 2 x Magic 1
The aircraft is also equipped with two 30mm DEFA cannons with their 125 shells each, which are standard on French combat aircraft. External fuel tanks can also be equipped, with the possibility of carrying a 1300-liter tank in a central position or 1700 or 2000-liter tanks under the wings.
Equipment
The aircraft is equipped with the same technology as its predecessors, it has the same MATRA SPIRALE countermeasure release system (no MAW since this one was integrated on the 2000C S5) and is also compatible with the MATRA Eclair pod present on the other aircraft, the RWR SERVAL developed by Thales is also present. Concerning the Dassault SABRE jammer, it would seem that it is installable but that the S1 standard has not installed it due to manufacturing delays.
In-game, the Mirage 2000C S1 would be a very interesting addition, bringing a less armed and motorized version of an already well-known aircraft. This aircraft would provide gameplay similar to what an F-5 or a Mig-21 can offer in other trees, namely a dogfight aircraft equipped with few missiles, something France does not currently have in these Br.
Pro :
- A new specialized dogfighting aircraft for France
- Easy to implement because the plane itself is already in the game
Con :
- Complicated balancing
Sources
Soutien militaire : Mirage 2000
TEXTE 2 Tomes Bonnet v8.pdf
COMAERO Volume II
https://radars-darricau.fr/livre/2-PDF/histoire.pdf
Un demi-siècle d'aéronautique en France
Microsoft Word - 1_Synthèse Complet A5.doc
Dassault Mirage 2000C
FAQ de fr.rec.aviation
Dassault Mirage 2000 Variant Briefing [PDF|TXT]
mirage-2000c-flight-manual.pdf - Google Drive
Snecma M53 - Versions