to-Surface Medium Range – Ameliorated)
missile with considerably improved
capabilities. The weapon was ordered to
equip the Mirage 2000N as well as air force
Rafale B and navy Rafale M fighters.
The new NK3 standard also includes an
internal GPS receiver to update the navigation
data of the two inertial navigation systems, with
the Système d’Enregistrement et Récepteur
GPS (SERG, GPS receiver and recording
system) and the SLE variant of the internal
Caméléon jammer. As part of France’s policy
of independent operations, 2000N aircrews are
still trained to perform their mission without
relying on a GPS signal and to navigate
autonomously with a high degree of accuracy.
With the advent of the SERG, ‘La Fayette’
aircrews had at their disposal a powerful
debriefing tool that can be used in conjunction
with the Système d’Enregistrement des
Paramètres Avion-Missiles (SERPAM, missile/
aircraft parameters recording system) in
service on the Mirage 2000-5 and the Rafale.
“We previously had to rely on a
standalone, portable GPS receiver from
which we had to extract our flight pathdata, a laborious and time-consuming
process,” explained Commandant Cyril.
“The SERG comes with a PCMCIA card
that records the 2000N’s trajectory and
the HUD [head-up display] and electronic
warfare displays, allowing us to replay
the mission on the ground and to draw
all the lessons to improve our tactics.
“This was a major step forward that propelled
us into modernity, giving us the possibility
to debrief with Mirage 2000-5F and Rafale
aircrews with an incredibly high level of fidelity.”K3-2R standard
The K3 standard entered service in 2009,
but improvements were regularly introduced,
culminating with the K3-2R standard.
Operations in Libya in 2011 revealed a need to
improve the aircraft’s self-defence capabilities
against the latest generation of threats, the
K3-2R standard providing aircrews with the
Serval AS (Amélioration de la Sensibilité,
improvement to sensitivity) radar warning
receiver and the Caméléon C2 jammer.
The Serval AS can detect emitters from further
away while the Caméléon C2 can deal with ahigher number of threats simultaneously and
with a much greater jamming efficiency.
The advent of the NK3 and the entry into
service of the Rafale with EC 1/91 ‘Gascogne’
at Saint-Dizier led to a major reorganisation
of the 2000N fleet. After a round of defence
cuts announced by President Sarkozy, air
force nuclear squadrons were reduced
from three to two with the disbandment of
EC 1/4 ‘Dauphiné’ at Luxeuil in 2010.
In September 2011, EC 3/4 ‘Limousin’ at
Istres was renamed EC 2/4 ‘La Fayette’, the
‘Limousin’ traditions passing into history, while
the remnants of EC 2/4 at Luxeuil quietly
disbanded. This preserves the renowned
‘La Fayette’ traditions and a strong historical
connection that helps reinforce Franco-US ties.
At the same time, Luxeuil lost its nuclear role,
but the prestigious EC 1/2 ‘Cigognes’ fighter
squadron moved in from Dijon-Longvic in 2011.Intensive training
Until the very end of their service, the Mirage
2000Ns will remain fully operational to maintain
a credible deterrence force while the future EC
2/4 works up to full operational status at Saint-A pair of Mirage 2000Ns of the former Ramex Delta
display team taxies out at Solenzara prior to a
display. The acclaimed duo has now been replaced
by Couteau Delta, which fl ies the Mirage 2000D
from Nancy.France’s ‘big stick’ retires
84 // JULY 2018 #364 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com