The Moroccan Air Pressure is anticipated to turn out to be the world’s final new operator of the ageing French Mirage 2000 fourth era fighter, with the nation reportedly set to put money into changing its ageing third era Mirage F1 and American sourced F-5 fighters with the newer however nonetheless more and more out of date design. The service fields seven fighter squadrons together with two every of F-5E/F and F-1 fighters, though normal squadron sizes within the fleet stay small averaging simply 10 plane every. 22 F-5s and 26 Mirage F1s are thought to at present be in service, alongside 23 F-16s that are break up between three very small squadrons. Whereas the Mirage 2000 has been out of manufacturing for near 20 years, the plane are being retired by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates that are each changing their fleets with the newer French Rafale ‘4+ era’ design. Qatar ordered 12 Mirage 2000-5 fighters in 1994, however started to section them out of service in favour of Rafale jets in 2019, and has been rumoured to be the supply of Morocco’s first Mirage 2000 batch which is able to change a single squadron – seemingly the older unit of Mirage F1C fighters. This stays to be confirmed.
The UAE fields a a lot bigger fleet of 66 Mirage 2000s together with 59 enhanced Mirage 2000-9 and seven Mirage 2000 RAD reconnaissance variants, with a number of older Mirage 2000-9 airframes considered in storage. Unconfirmed reviews from December 2021 have indicated that these can be break up between Morocco and Egypt when retired, the latter which operates a really small squadron of 17 Mirage 2000s for which it was the primary ever export shopper within the Eighties. The Mirage 2000 is taken into account the French equal to the American F-16 Preventing Falcon, though the shortage of comparable improve packages together with AESA radars or viable lengthy vary air to air missiles has left it successfully out of date in comparison with its American rival. Contending with inferior armaments and a a lot weaker engine, the Mirage has persistently struggled to compete with the F-16 notably as a result of its greater price.
A notable indictor of the Mirage 2000’s standing in comparison with the F-16 that Taiwan’s air power, regardless of buying the 2 courses on the identical time and paying significantly extra for the Mirages, is ready to retire the French constructed jets a number of many years early and change them with newer variants of the F-16. Seven of Taiwan’s 60 Mirages have crashed since supply, making it by far its most harmful fighter to fly as issues with manufacturing high quality in France have been steadily reported. Though for Morocco the Mirage 2000 represents a substantial enchancment over the F-5E and Mirage F1, albeit with a better operational price, its potential to counter trendy fighters from neighbouring Algeria such because the MiG-29M and Su-30MKA stays restricted. Relying on the numbers of Mirage 2000 fighters acquired, Morocco might effectively intend them as a less expensive substitute to buying trendy variants of the F-16 – the F-16 Block 70/72 – which have been initially anticipated to exchange the F-5s and are technologically a number of many years forward of the ageing French jets.
