- Yes
- No
Hi everyone, here is a new suggestion for a new Mirage 2000, so I present to you the Mirage 2000C S3 also called RDM
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 1984. Originally, the aircraft was intended only for air superiority, but it later evolved into multirole versions. This version of the aircraft, with the RDM radar, is the most similar version to the one that has been offered for export and accepted by some countries (the RDI radar having been reserved for France).
The Mirage 2000C S3 :
The Mirage 2000C S3 is the name given to the production aircraft ranging from number 20 to 37, it is the first Mirage 2000C variant to obtain the capability to fire radar-guided missiles. Indeed, the first two series of Mirage 2000 (the S1 and S2 versions) were limited in their use of air-to-air missiles, being able to carry only two infrared-guided missiles at the wingtip (Magic 1 and Magic 2), this version was capable of firing the Matra Super 530F missile, the first version of this missile already in service on the Mirage F1 of the time.
The radar equipping this aircraft is the RDM radar (multimode doppler radar) produced by Thomson-CSF, this radar is only present on the first series because the RDI radar that will equip the following models has not yet entered production. This radar, although efficient, is sorely lacking in power and is strongly criticized by pilots.
This Mirage 2000 is also equipped with a different engine, in fact it is powered by the SNECMA M-53-5, this reactor is approximately 10% less powerful compared to the engine equipping the latest variants of the aircraft
Radar
The radar used is therefore the RDM radar found on the Mirage 4000. 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.
Weapons
This variant of Mirage 2000C, although old, can carry the various armaments that have made the reputation of the aircraft
-
2 x DEFA 554 canon
-
2 x Matra Magic 1 or 2
-
2 x Matra Super 530F
-
7 x 250 Type 25 bombs
-
7 x 250 Type 25 200 bombs
-
72 x SNEB type 23
-
BLG-66 Belouga
-
BAP-120
-
BAT-100
The aircraft can also carry the various external fuel tanks found on the other Mirage 2000 vertions.
- 2 x RPL-541/542 2000L fuel tank
- 2 x RPL-501/502 1700L fuel tank
- 1 x RPL-522 1300L fuel tank
Equipment
The internal equipment of the Mirage 2000C S3 is the same as that found on the later variants of the aircraft, so the aircraft has a Serval RWR and an integrated Sabre jammer. The aircraft is also equipped with the Alkan LL5063 countermeasure launcher.
Why an “early” version ?
If I suggest an “early” version of the Mirage 2000C S3, it is because this standard has undergone some modifications during its operational service, the main one being an update of the RDM radar allowing it to fire the MATRA Super 530D missile (version found on the Mirage 4000). The aircraft with this update would only be a copy of the Mirage 200C S4/S5 already present in the game. That’s why an “early” version equipped only with Super 530F and a worse radar would be interesting, bringing the possibility of having an aircraft between the Mirage F1 C and the Mirage 2000C S5 and having capabilities located on the way of these two aircraft.
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
Tell me what you think about it
