The Indian Air Force (IAF) has signed a contract to buy phased out Mirages of the French Air Force, as per government sources.

"A squadron of the French Mirage jets had been phased out some time ago. On August 31, a contract was signed for acquiring these phased-out planes to improve the spares and airframe capability to help improve the serviceability of the around 50 Mirage-2000s in the Indian fleet," government sources said.

However, the sources also included that none of these aircraft would be used for flying. The aircraft would be supplied in containers to the Indian Air Force.

This is the second such agreement that the Indian Air Force has signed for buying okayed airframes. India had signed a contract with French companies for supplying old Mirages which reached Gwalior last year and have helped in significantly improving operational availability, the sources said.

The French Air Force has been replacing its old fleet of Mirages with new Rafale fighter jets. India had acquired these aircraft from France in the 1980s and they have been one of the most potent fleets of aircraft despite being over three decades old.

The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force.

The Mirage 2000 evolved into a multirole aircraft with several variants developed, with sales to a number of nations. It was later developed into the Mirage 2000N and 2000D strike variants, the improved Mirage 2000-5, and several export variants.

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