Pakistan has turned to old ally Libya to purchase a fleet of Mirage fighter jets and spare parts, an air force spokesperson said on Monday.
”Libya had a fleet of Mirages, which was grounded for over a decade. We have purchased that fleet at a very reasonable price,” Air Commodore Sarfraz Khan said.
”The deal has been finalised, the shipment has started.”
Khan would not reveal the price or the number of craft in the fleet, but press reports said the purchase included 50 jets and 150 engines.
All the jets will be scrapped for spare parts to maintain Pakistan’s existing fleet of Mirages.
”The Pakistan Air Force [PAF] is going to reduce the Mirages to spares and use them in maintaining our already existing fleet.”
The PAF currently operates 180 Mirage jets, according to international defence research organisations.
Khan would only put the number at ”more than 100”, but he said Pakistan is the biggest user of the French-manufactured Mirage III and V models.
Pakistan first purchased the sleek fighter jets in 1968. Its current fleet is a mixture of used Mirages purchased from Australia and freshly produced models from France.
Mirage IIIs are high-speed, all-weather, delta-wing, long-range fighter-bombers, used by the PAF as a multirole fighter.
The Mirage V was designed as a ground-attack and reconnaissance aircraft. It is also used by the PAF in an anti-ship role armed with Exocet anti-ship missiles.
The Mirage is considered one of the world’s most elegant aircraft, with a wing span of 8,22m and top speeds of up to 2 350kph.
The Libyan Air Force had been dormant for several years due to sanctions over its nuclear programme. The sanctions were lifted by the United States last year after Libya revealed the full extent of its nuclear programme to the United Nations atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. — Sapa-AFP