The UAE and France signed three contracts to upgrade the UAE's Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets, valued at $ 552 million, at the Dubai Airshow last week.
The details of this update, which will include thirty fighter jets, have not been announced, but its stated goal is to enable UAE Mirage fighter jets to operate at full capacity and combat capability until 2030. .
The signatories to the three contracts are Dassault Aviation, France's Thales Group and the European missile developer MPDA, which is based in Paris.
Dassault Aviation won the lion's share, signing a $ 460 million contract, while Thales Group and MPDA signed $ 65 million and $ 26 million respectively.
These three contracts now make it difficult to sign an agreement whereby the UAE will acquire new Mirage fighter jets - something that has been talked about a decade ago, given that one of the conditions for completing any such deal is for France to retrieve aircraft. Mirage 2000-9 "held by the Emirates.
On the other hand, the French website reported that the three companies involved in the modernization of Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets also signed cooperation agreements with the "Tawazun" complex of the UAE security and defense industries, whereby Dassault Aviation will establish a flight test center "will play a pivotal role Thierry Carlier, Director of International Development at the French General Directorate of Armaments.
Under the agreement, MPDA has pledged to establish an engineering center that "will serve as a design body for missile systems for the benefit of the UAE."
Thales, through its subsidiary Thales Emirates, will also set up a specialized center for security systems management, such as radar, wireless communications and various defense technologies, to “encourage local partnerships,” particularly with the UAE defense industry group EDGE. What the site confirmed.