Mirage planes upgraded at Rs 167 cr per aircraft in 2011

India bought Mirage-2000 warplanes for Rs 133 crore each in year 2000, while the cost of upgrading the aircraft came to Rs 167 crore per unit in 2011, Defence Minister A K Antony said today.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, he said, “The last contracted price for each Mirage-2000 aircraft in the year 2000 was Rs 133 crore. The contract for upgrade was signed in 2011 wherein the cost of upgrading one aircraft was Rs 167 crore.”

Antony said, “Applying an escalation of 3.5 per cent per annum as per the Pricing Policy Review Committee, to the contacted cost of the year 2000, it works out to be Rs 195 crore at 2011 levels. Thus, the upgrade has been undertaken at 85 per cent of the escalated cost of the aircraft.”

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