Dassault Mirage 2000C
The original single-seat interceptor — Dassault's delta reborn with fly-by-wire · First flight 1978 · In service 1983
The Mirage 2000 brought back the pure delta wing of the Mirage III, but made it work with a fly-by-wire flight-control system and relaxed stability. Prototype 01 first flew on 10 March 1978 and reached Mach 1.3 on that very flight. The first production Mirage 2000C followed on 20 November 1982, and deliveries to the French Air Force began in 1983.
The first 37 aircraft had the Thomson-CSF RDM radar and the SNECMA M53-5 engine; from the 38th airframe the more powerful M53-P2 was fitted, and from 1987 the RDI pulse-Doppler radar, designed for the long-range Super 530D missile, entered service. About 124 single-seaters were delivered to France, where the last 2000C was retired in June 2022.
The same first-generation airframe was sold abroad: India signed for 36 Mirage 2000H and 4 two-seat 2000TH in April 1982 and used them for laser-guided strikes during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before upgrading them to the 2000I standard from 2015. Greece (2000EG), Peru, Egypt and the UAE followed, and Brazil flew 12 ex-French aircraft as the F-2000 from 2006 to 2013.
