DURING THE Dubai Airshow, Dassault Aviation announced that the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces intends to upgrade its 62-strong Mirage 2000-9 fleet at a reported cost of $350m. The potential contract, announced at the show on November 14, 2017, would address the Mirages' mission computer system; fire control radar; electronic warfare suite; Optronics systems; communications, navigation and identification systems; cockpit display systems; helmet-mounted system displays and electrical systems. The package is likely to include the Thales RDY-3 radar and TALIOS targeting pod. Previously, Lockheed Martin and the UAE signed a $1.65bn contract to upgrade and support the 79 surviving United Arab Emirates Air Force & Air Defence (UAE AF&AD) Block 60 F-16E/F fighters. The deal was announced on November 11 by Major General Abdullah Al Sayed Al Hashemi, Chief of the Military Committee and spokesman for the UAE Armed Forces. No further details of the modernisation were provided, but it will address "obsolescence issues" with the jets, which started to be delivered in 2004.
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