Mirage aircraft to have 500 air-to-air missiles

• The government on Wednesday cleared a proposal to equip the French Mirage ground attack aircraft with 500 air-to-air missiles that would be procured from a western consortium.
• The €950-million (about Rs. 6,600 crore) deal was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security at a meeting here chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The decision entails procuring the MICA interception and aerial combat fire and forget missile manufactured by MBDA, sources in the Defence Ministry said.
• The government earlier cleared a proposal to upgrade 51 Mirage 2000 aircraft under a €1.47-billion agreement signed last year.
• The French firms will modernise the navigation systems, mission computers, electronic warfare systems and radars.