INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
reverbates at the thundering take-off of a Mirage Rose-1, the latest ageing fighter jet to have been gutted and reassembled by the Pakistani
Air Force.Fifty years after Pakistan bought its first Mirages, many planes in the venerable fleet are still being patched up, overhauled and
upgraded for use in combat, years after conventional wisdom dictates they should be grounded.That includes one of the first two planes
recently.The techniques they have developed are reminiscent of -- but far more high-tech and lethal than -- the improvised methods used to
keep classic American cars running on the streets of Havana."We have achieved such a capability that our experts can integrate any latest
system with the ageing Mirages," says Air Commodore Salman M
Farooqi, deputy managing director of the Mirage Rebuild Factory (MRF) at the Kamra complex.Pakistan bought its first Mirages to diversify
its fleet, which in the late 1960s largely consisted of US-built planes: F-104 Starfighters, T-37 Tweety Birds and F-86 Sabres.The Mirage
became a popular choice, with the Air Force buying 17 different variants in later years, eventually owning the second-highest number of the
in history, lasting just 13 days and leading to the creation of Bangladesh.But Mirages flew on, also carrying out reconnaissance missions in
India, and intercepting and shooting down Soviet and Afghan planes that violated Pakistani airspace during the Soviet war.Usually the jet
has two or three life cycles, each spanning around 12 years
But overhauling them abroad was expensive for Pakistan, a developing country whose budget is already disproportionately tilted towards its
military and which has historically received billions in military assistance from countries such as the US.So, with the help of experts from
Factory was established at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in 1978, and in the years since has saved "billions" of dollars for
Pakistan, according to Group Captain Muhammad Farooq, in charge of one of the maintenance hangars -- though he said the exact figure was
difficult to pin down.The planes take some seven weeks to be overhauled and repainted, he said, adding that usually the MRF has the capacity
for more than a dozen planes a year
Its calendar for the next decade or so is already booked up.At least eight different Mirage variants, including the Mirage 5-EF, Mirage
III-DP and Mirage-III Rose-I, were in one of the maintenance hangers when AFP visited.Engineers and technicians were dismantling cockpit
instrument panels and landing gear while undertaking a "non-destructive inspection", essentially an X-ray to detect faults in the wings and
airframe.Dozens of engines awaiting overhaul were piled in one hangar
Even planes that had suffered accidents such as fires breaking out have been patched back together at the facility.Pakistan has also been
buying up discarded Mirages from other countries to bring through the facility, said retired Air Marshal Shahid Lateef.The most important
technological improvement, developed with the help of South Africa, is the ability to integrate air-to-air refuelling, Farooqi said.The
"identification of friend and foe" (IFF) system, which detects when a Mirage has been locked on to by the system of another plane, was also
difficult to maintain."They have outlived their lives after their overhauls (they) have become highly unreliable, we even met with lots of
accidents," Lateef said.The best option to replace them would be the Rafale, as neighbour and arch-rival India -- which has also flown and
maintained Mirages for decades -- is doing, signing a deal with Dassault in 2016.The price tag is too much for Pakistan, however, retired
Air Commodore Tariq Yazdani said.Instead Pakistan plans to replace them with the JF-17 Thunder aircraft that it co-developed and co-produced
military aviation cannot be dismissed, Yazdani, who has logged 1,500 hours flying them, told AFP.It is a "very agile aircraft capable of
position -- quite easy," he said."It is an old aircraft," said aviation writer Alan Warnes, author of two books on the Pakistani air force
"But Pakistani pilots have been flying this plane with the utmost accuracy and expertise."
