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Rafale Shot Down by Mirage F1 Refurbs
November
27, 2006: As part of a deal to sell Libya over two billion dollars worth of
Airbus airliners, France has agreed to refurbish a dozen of Libya's 38 Mirage
F1 fighters. Libya bought the Mirage's nearly thirty years ago, and has not
gotten a lot of technical support since then. This is because Libya began
supporting terrorists and got slapped with arms embargos by most European
nations. Libya bought large quantities of weapons, most from Europe and Russia,
in the 1970s. More weapons than Libya was able to use, much less maintain. The
Mirage F1 is a 16 ton interceptor that can only carry two tons of weapons. With
modern electronics and missiles, it would still be a formidable air defense
aircraft. This is apparently what Libya is getting, although France would
prefer to see them the new Rafale fighter. But Rafale is expensive, about $66
million each, while a refurb of a Mirage F1 would cost less than a third of that.
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