Draken buys Spanish Mirage F-1s

[hunty]

Gents


More Mirage F-1s find a new life in the civilian world.:ok:


Draken International on Friday closed a deal with the Spanish Air Force, purchasing 20 Mirage F1 fighter aircraft. The supersonic F1s will complement Draken’s existing fleet, which is currently flying on contract at Nellis AFB, Nev., supporting the Air Warfare Center. “Our mission is to provide the most cost effective solution to complement organic Red Air assets. We deliver a turnkey solution at a fraction of the cost the Air Force would spend generating the same number of sorties we produce everyday. Not only are we generating four to five sorties for the cost of a single F-16 flight hour, each flying hour preserves valuable life on USAF aircraft. Tremendous savings happen when squadrons are not tapped to go TDY away from their families to support Nellis with an already tiring deployment schedule,” said Draken CEO Jared Isaacman. The Mirage F1s are projected to include a helmet mounted cueing system, infrared missile seekers, data link, and electronic jamming from its radar as well as radar warning receiver capabilities.

[atakacs]

Not only are we generating four to five sorties for the cost of a single F-16 flight hour
That's a fairly impressive claim...

[ORAC]

Draken buying the ex-SAAF Cheetah/Mirage fleet.

Draken International Adds Twelve Atlas Cheetahs to their Radar Equipped Supersonic Fleet | Draken International (http://www.drakenintl.com/blog/blog/news-and-press/draken-international-adds-twelve-atlas-cheetahs-to-their-radar-equipped-supersonic-fleet)

[atakacs]

Well they really seem to have found value in those old Mirages.

Anyone with some insight as of what's going on here?

[falcon900]

I'm guessing it must be some sort or arbitrage between USAF authorised activities/ operating protocols and cost structures and those employed by Draken.
In other words, Draken can probably do things less expensively than the USAF by virtue, for example, of adopting maintenance standards and practices which are to a lower standard than USAF (used versus new OEM parts?) or employing pilots on lower salaries.
I am not suggesting any criticism of Draken, or suggesting their practices are inadequate; simply that they might not be considered "gold standard" compared with USAF.

[ORAC]

Not just the US forces, many others including the UK. Forget lower standards, when you look at the costs per hour to operate a modern jet such as a Typhoon or F-35 then using them as the enemy in training is increasingly prohibitive in cost. Buying second hand cheaper jets with all their spares - and more available cheaply due to the number produced - means they probably have a cost per flying hour in the hundreds of dollars or low thousands compared to 10s of thousands.

[Percy Cute]

I see from their website they are using Photoshop to generate a three-ship. That must reduce operating costs........

[A and C]

It’s not about adopting lower maintenance standards , it’s about providing airline standards of maintenance without Tripple gold plating the paperwork. The military system is process driven as apposed to the EASA system that is product quality driven.

Unfortunately I have seen the military airworthiness system obsessed by counting paint brushes in the stores while missing airworthiness directives.

[B2N2]

Bring a company operated for profit they work a little more efficiently then any (Western) countries’ air forces I presume.

[Vendee]

It’s not about adopting lower maintenance standards , it’s about providing airline standards of maintenance without Tripple gold plating the paperwork. The military system is process driven as apposed to the EASA system that is product quality driven.

Unfortunately I have seen the military airworthiness system obsessed by counting paint brushes in the stores while missing airworthiness directives.

That is just so true. I've just retired and my career in aircraft maintenance was Military (RAF), Civilian and then back to military (RAF & Army).

The military (and in particular the Army) is tying itself in knots with its procedures and what it perceives to be QA. Sure, the flight safety record is at a historical high but a big part of that is because the aircraft are stuck on the ground through overbearing QA procedures. There seems to be people who's mission in life is to stop aircraft flying rather than the commercial/civilian aim of keeping them in the air.

I will say that looking back to the 70's and 80's, the uk military maintenance regime was, for want of a better word, "gash" and I do shudder to think about some of the things that I did. However, the military embraced QA and went over the top with it. QA departments became powerful empires rather than just another tool in the engineer's toolbox.

[ORAC]

A and C, if you read my post I never said it was - contrariwise.

[sandiego89]

It also helps when you don't have to factor in all the overhead that an active duty squadron implies: massive training pipeline, cooks, day-care, layers of command, moving every 2 years, aircraft that are held hostage by the manufacturer for certain items...


Seems pretty cost effective for this specialized aggressor/target role.


Look forward to seeing some in my area, I used to/have seen Drakkens and Hunters in my area of Virginia over the years playing adversaries.

[Yellowjack99]

I can understand the ECM upgrade that is externally detectable by the paying guy, but why a helmet cuing upgrade?

[Stitchbitch]

Perhaps it’s because the bad guys had and still have off boresight kit, and you can record footage for proof of kills wvr?

[Davef68]

Draken buying the ex-SAAF Cheetah/Mirage fleet.

Draken International Adds Twelve Atlas Cheetahs to their Radar Equipped Supersonic Fleet | Draken International (http://www.drakenintl.com/blog/blog/news-and-press/draken-international-adds-twelve-atlas-cheetahs-to-their-radar-equipped-supersonic-fleet)


So do they have to supply IAI with end-user certificates? :-)