Back on November 29, 2017, Forecast International posted to its blog that a deal concerning a Thales upgrade of the UAE Air Force’s Mirage 2000-9s, announced during Dubai Airshow 2017, would involve the TALIOS electro-optical pod. However, on February 26, 2020, Lockheed Martin announced that it would instead be integrating its Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod with the UAE’s Mirages.
While this is a coup for Lockheed Martin’s team – with its Sniper pod continuing to expand its customer base, including a recent win for a place on board F-16Vs – it has to be disappointing for Thales, which has only found limited acceptance for its TALIOS on board select Dassault Rafales. The Rafale program itself has struggled to draw customers, and what could have been a massive, 100+ strong order from India has now dwindled to only a few dozen examples.
In the November 2017 post, Forecast International projected that the UAE’s Mirage upgrade would also include the RDY-3 radar. At this time, we are aware of no information that contradicts this forecast, and therefore continue to project that the upgraded Mirage 2000-9s will carry Thales’ RDY-3.
For more information on the Mirage, TALIOS, and RDY-3, please see Forecast International’s Airborne Electronics Forecast, Radar Forecast, and Airborne Retrofit & Modernization Forecast products. For up-to-the-hour coverage of these markets, contact us about Forecast’s Platinum Forecast System.
