[2.0] Mirage III Derivatives

* Given the wide use and utility of the Mirage III series, it was not surprising that derivatives were built, either as new production or rebuilds, in several user countries -- most notably in the form of the Israeli "Kfir" and the South African "Cheetah". The French also built experimental vertical take-off aircraft based on the Mirage III.

[2.1] IAI NESHER & KFIR

* Dassault had developed the Mirage 5 at the request of the Israelis. When the French government prevented the aircraft from being delivered to Israel and cut off support for the Israeli's existing Mirage IIICJ fleet, the Israelis simply produced the Mirage 5 themselves without a license, using manufacturing specs obtained by Israeli intelligence. There is an elaborate cloak-and-dagger story behind this exercise that doesn't quite eliminate the suspicion that the Israelis were very discreetly helped by Dassault in this effort, the French government turning a blind eye to the whole matter. If so, nobody's ever been able to prove a thing.

The "Nesher (Eagle)" was a complete copy of the Mirage 5, except for the use of some Israeli avionics; a Martin-Baker zero-zero ejection seat; and provisions for a wider range of AAMs, including the Israeli Shafir heat-seeking missile. The first Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Nesher prototype flew in September 1969, with production deliveries to the Hey'l Ha'Avir beginning in 1972. These aircraft performed well during the 1973 Yom Kippur / Ramadan War, claiming over a hundred kills.

51 Nesher fighters and 10 Nesher two-seat trainers were built in all. As mentioned, most of these aircraft were refurbished and exported to Argentina in 1978:82, under the name "Dagger". The Argentinians received 35 "Dagger A" single-seat fighters and 4 "Dagger B" two-seat trainers. The last of them were retired in 2015.

* Nesher production was terminated to make way for an improved Mirage derivative that had been in planning in parallel, in which the Atar engine was to be replaced with an Israeli-built General Electric J79 engine, the same engine used on the American F-104 Starfighter and F-4 Phantom fighters. The J79 provided a dry thrust of 49 kN (5,000 kgp / 11,100 lbf) and an afterburning thrust of 83.4 kN (8,500 kgp / 18,750 lbf).

The J79 was first fitted to a French-built Mirage III, flying in October 1970. This test aircraft was followed by an improved prototype in June 1973, with the name "Raam (Thunderbolt)". Apparently a number of Mirage III-based J79-powered aircraft were built by IAI under the name "Barak (Lightning)" and participated in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, but making the most of the new engine meant airframe changes.

Production deliveries of an optimized J79-powered Mirage derivative, under the name "Kfir-C1 (Lion Cub)", began in April 1975. The Kfir-C1 superficially resembled a Mirage 5, except for a distinctive "ram" air inlet at the front base of the tail to provide added cooling required by the J79 engine.

Only 27 Kfir-C1 fighters were delivered, to be replaced by the improved "Kfir-C2". The Kfir-C2 had a number of enhancements to traditional Mirage aerodynamics. It featured narrow "strakes" along the tip of the nose; fixed detachable canards; and an extended "dogtooth" outer wing. The aerodynamic improvements gave the Kfir better combat maneuverability, reduced landing and take-off distance, and improved low-speed handling.

   ___________________________________________________________________

   IAI KFIR:
   ___________________________________________________________________
 
   wingspan:
     8.21 meters (27 feet)
   wing area:
     34.80 sq_meters (374.6 sq_feet)
   length:
     15.65 meters (51 feet 4.25 inches)
   height:
     4.55 meters (14 feet 11.5 inches)

   empty weight:
     7,285 kilograms (16,060 pounds)
   max loaded weight:
     14,670 kilograms (32,340 pounds)

   maximum speed:
     2,440 KPH (1,520 MPH / 1,320 KT)
   service ceiling:
     17,700 meters (58,000 feet)
   operational radius:
     770 kilometers (480 MI / 420 NMI)

   ___________________________________________________________________

All but two of the Kfir-C1s were upgraded to the Kfir-C2 configuration, though they used smaller canards because of structural issues. 185 Kfir-C2s were built, including a number of "Kfir-TC2" two-seat trainers. The trainer versions are very unusual looking, since they have an extended nose containing avionics displaced by the second seat, and the nose was noticeably drooped to give a reasonable cockpit view. The result was a somewhat comical "big nose" appearance.

Final production Kfirs, delivered in the late 1980s, featured nine stores pylons, upgraded avionics, and other refinements, and were designated "Kfir-C7" and "Kfir-TC7". The Kfirs carried Israeli-built weapons, such as the Shafir II and follow-on Python 3 heat-seeking missiles, and US-built weapons, such as Maverick air-to-ground and Shrike anti-radar missiles.

* In 1991, IAI introduced an upgraded Kfir-C2, known as the "Nammer (Tiger)", for the export market. This aircraft had a slightly stretched fuselage; modern avionics, including multifunction displays (MFDs) and "hands on throttle and stick (HOTAS)", controls, and the ability to accommodate either a SNECMA Atar 9K-50 turbojet or a GE-Volvo F404 / RM12 turbofan. Apparently the use of the J79 engine led to American export restrictions on the type that the chafed on the Israelis, so they went to a different engine fit. Along with the usual twin 30-millimeter cannon, the Nammer had nine stores pylons and could carry up to 6.25 tonnes (13,800 pounds) of external stores. It also had provision for in-flight refueling.

There were no takers for the Nammer as such, but IAI didn't give up, offering the "Kfir-C10/TC10" as an upgrade, with a modern Israeli Elta EL/M-2021B multimode radar, twin MFDs, HOTAS, a modern countermeasures suite, and compatibility with the latest guided munitions. There was also a "Kfir-C12/TC12", much the same except without the new radar. In 2013, IAI announced a further improved "Block 60" Kfir update, the centerpiece being the Elta EL/M-2032 multimode active-array radar, with the company having a stockpile of 50 mothballed airframes in good condition to upgrade.

Kfirs were withdrawn from Israeli service during the 1990s, most being passed on to foreign users after refurbishment. Export sales included:

• Ten refurbished Hey'l Ha'Avir Kfir-C2 fighters and two Kfir-TC2 trainers were supplied to Ecuador in 1983. Ecuadorian Kfirs fought in a border clash with Peru in 1995. In 1996, Ecuador acquired three more Kfir-C2s and one Kfir-TC2; from 1999, Ecuador obtained two Kfir-C10s, with the most or all of the survivors updated to a similar spec. The last of them were phased out of service in 2013.
  
  
• 25 of the upgraded Kfir-C1s were leased to the US Navy and the US Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 to act as "F-21A" aggressor aircraft for "Red Flag" training. Six Kfirs were also obtained by the US Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC), which provides adversary training services for the US military, and remain in service at last notice.
  
  
• 12 Kfir-C2s and 1 Kfir-TC2 trainer were provided to Colombia, being delivered from 1989. The Kfir-C2s were upgraded to C7 configuration in Colombia, with Colombian Mirage 5s given a comparable upgrade, to be redesignated "Mirage 5COAM". Another batch of 13 mothballed Kfirs was ordered in 2008, with these and 11 existing Colombia Kfirs updated to Kfir-C10, Kfir-C12, and Kfir-TC12 spec, with modernized avionics. Two more Kfir-TC12s were obtained in 2017. They carried the latest Israeli weaponry and have been given incremental upgrades. Colombian Kfirs performed air strikes on FARC insurgent groups in the course of Colombia's long-running civil war. They were retired in 2022.
  
  
• From the mid-1990s Sri Lanka obtained what would be a total of ten Kfir-C2s, four Kfir-C7s, and one Kfir-TC2 trainer. These aircraft were used against the Tamil Tiger insurgency, with two destroyed on the ground in 2001 in a Tiger raid. An estimated nine more Kfirs-C2/TC2s were added to the fleet after that time. They remain in service at last notice, and in fact Sri Lanka awarded IAI a contract for an upgrade program in 2021.

[2.2] ATLAS CHEETAH / ENAER PANTERA

* South Africa performed an update to their Mirages along the lines of that of the Kfir and incorporating some Israeli-built kit. In 1986, Atlas Aircraft Corporation of South Africa rolled out a refurbished Mirage III machine named the "Cheetah". Improvements to the Cheetah featured:

• Structural upgrades to "zero-life" the airframe.
  
  
• Kfir-like canards, nose strakes, and dogtooth wing.
  
  
• An Atar 09K-50 engine, built under license in South Africa for the country's Mirage F1 fighters. The Cheetah featured larger engine intakes to ensure the necessary airflow.
  
  
• Two additional stores pylons under the intake ducts, for a total of seven pylons.
  
  
• A fixed refueling probe, mounted over the right air intake.
  
  
• A Martin-Baker Mark 10 ejection seat.
  
  
• New avionics, the majority of Israeli origin but with some elements built in South Africa, mostly packed into an extended nose.

Not all Cheetahs incorporated all these improvements, with the variations detailed later. The updated avionics kit included:

• A lightweight Israeli Elta EL-2001 radar, a simple set but much better than the aged Cyrano radar system, capable of tracking and targeting in both air to air and air to ground combat.
  
  
• An Elbit head-up display (HUD), and a South African-built helmet mounted sight.
  
  
• A self-defense suite, including missile and radar warning sensors, active jammers, and chaff-flare dispensers. The chaff-flare dispensers were fitted in a fairing under the tail.
  
  
• New navigation and weapons management systems.

The Cheetah was qualified to carry locally-built South African weapons, such as the Kukri and Darter AAMs, which could be cued by the pilot's helmet-mounted sight, along with Israeli weapons such as the Python AAM. The Cheetah's radar was not capable of supporting long-range radar-guided AAMs. Of course, operational Cheetahs retained the twin DEFA cannon and could carry such ordnance as conventional bombs, cluster munitions, and unguided rocket pods. The result of all the modifications was something like a Kfir without the J79 engine fit, resembling a Kfir except for the lack of a ram-air inlet at the base of the tail.

Atlas updated a quantity of Mirages, apparently including both South African machines and some obtained quietly from Israel and possibly some other foreign sources, to the Cheetah standard, with variants including:

• The single-seat "Cheetah C" and "Cheetah E" variants. The Cheetah E was actually the first rolled out, the "E" designation it seems merely indicating that it was an updated Mirage IIIE, retaining the old Atar 09C engine. At least 16 Cheetah-Es were manufactured, going into service beginning in 1988. These aircraft were put into storage in 1992, and were apparently an interim machine to pave the way for the Cheetah C.
  
  The Cheetah C was a more sophisticated update, with the "C" apparently having no particular connection with the Mirage IIIC. At least 38 were built, with introduction to service in 1993. The Cheetah C could be distinguished from the Cheetah E by the fact that the Cheetah C had a one-piece windscreen, and a short but distinctive fuselage stretch between the cockpit and the engine intakes. Other improvements included a new undercarriage and presumably new avionics. Some Cheetah Cs may have been updated to the Elbit EL/M-2021 multimode radar. Oddly, the Cheetah C seems to have retained the old Martin-Baker Mark 6 ejection seat.
  
  
• The two-seat "Cheetah D" variant, with about 16 converted from various Mirage IIID airframes, the first conversion being delivered in 1986. The two-seaters were apparently tasked with the nuclear strike role until the South Africans scrapped their nuclear weapons in 1992, and were later used for operational training and conventional attack. The Cheetah Ds retained the older Atar 09C engine, though there was some interest in re-engining them with the Atar 9K-50.
  
  
• The "Cheetah R" reconnaissance variant, though it appears that only one was built and it never went into operational service. It had no cannon and no refueling probe.

There was some interest in re-engining the Cheetahs with Russian Klimov RD33-type turbofans, similar to the engines used on the MiG-29, and one Cheetah D was fitted with the Klimov engine on a trial basis. However, South Africa updated their fighter force with the Swedish SAAB 39 Gripen lightweight fighter, and all Cheetahs are now out of service.

Twelve Cheetahs, including 10 Cheetah C and 2 Cheetah D machines, were sold to Ecuador, to be refurbished and delivered in late 2011. Two attrition replacements were obtained in 2014. They were finally withdrawn in 2021.

In 2018, Draken International -- a US firm that, like ATAC, flies warbirds under military contract for adversary training obtained 12 Cheetahs, including 9 Cheetah C and 3 Cheetah D machines, with these machines refurbished and fitted with upgraded avionics.

* The Chilean company ENAER (Empresa Nacional de Aeronatica) performed a similar Kfir-C2-like upgrade under the name "Pantera (Panther)" of the Chilean Mirage 50 fleet, beginning in 1988. The Pantera incorporated fixed canards and other aerodynamic improvements, as well as advanced avionics. These aircraft had an extended nose to accommodate some of the new avionics. They were all retired by 2007.

[2.3] BALZAC / MIRAGE IIIV

* One of the most interesting offshoots of the Mirage III/5/50 fighter family tree was the "Mirage IIIV" vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fighter. "IIIV" is read "three-vee", not "three-five", by the way. This aircraft featured eight small vertical lift engines straddling the main engine. The Mirage IIIV was built in response to a mid-1960s NATO specification for a VTOL strike fighter.

To test the lift-engine concept, Dassault modified the first Mirage III prototype. Eight Rolls-Royce RB-108 lift engines were added, each with 9.61 kN (980 kgp / 2,160 lbf) thrust. This demonstrator was known as the "Balzac V", with the "V" for "VTOL", or just "Balzac". It made its first hover flights in October 1962, with its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight in March 1963. The name "Balzac" was not actually given to the aircraft in honor of the French literary figure. Since the machine was the first Mirage III, it was serial-numbered "001", and at the time there was a French movie advertising agency that widely publicized its phone number, "BALZAC 0001".

The Balzac crashed in January 1964. The pilot was killed, but the aircraft was repaired, only to crash again in September 1965, killing another pilot in the process. The aircraft was fortunately destroyed, ensuring it wouldn't kill another pilot.

* In the meantime, the Balzac had led to the Mirage IIIV, which was twice as big. Two prototypes were built. The first Mirage IIIV performed its first hovering trial in February 1965. The IIIV had the general layout of earlier Mirage fighters, but it was longer and had a bigger wing, and, like the Balzac, nine engines: a single SNECMA-modified Pratt & Whitney JTF10 turbofan, designated TF-104, with 61.8 kN (6,300 kgp / 13,900 lbf) thrust, and eight Rolls-Royce RB162-1 engines, each with 15.7 kN (1,600 kgp / 3,525 lbf) thrust, mounted vertically in a row of four on each side of the centerline. The TF-104 was originally evaluated on a special-built trials machine, the "Mirage IIIT", which was much like a Mirage IIIC except for the change in engine fit.

The TF-104 engine was quickly replaced by an uprated TF-106 engine, with 74.5 kN (7,600 kgp / 16,750 lbf) thrust, before the first prototype made its initial transition to forward flight in March 1966. It later attained Mach 1.32 in test flights.

The second prototype featured an 82.4 kN (8,400 kgp / 18,500 lbf) thrust TF-30 turbofan for forward thrust, and first flew in June 1966. In September of that year, it attained Mach 2.04 in level flight, but was lost in an accident on 28 November 1966. The loss of the second prototype effectively killed the program, and in fact killed any prospect of an operational Mach 2 vertical take-off fighter for decades. The British had been proceeding on design work towards the "Hawker P.1154", a supersonic follow-on to the Kestrel experimental VTOL fighter then flying, but the French preferred the Mirage IIIV, and the international cooperation needed to make the P.1154 a reality never materialized.

The British canceled the P.1154 and used some of its design features to come up with an operational vertical take-off fighter based on the Kestrel, the highly successful BAE Harrier. The Mirage IIIV was never a realistic combat aircraft. The eight lift engines would likely have been a maintenance nightmare, and certainly their weight imposed a severe range and payload penalty on the aircraft. Apparently the program was all but dead even before the loss of the second prototype.

[2.4] VARIANT SUMMARY

* The history of the Mirage III and its derivatives is elaborate, and a * summary is useful to keep it all straight:

• Mirage I (Mystere-Delta 550): Lightweight delta-wing demonstrator with twin Viper turbojets.
  
  
• Mirage III: Prototype with Atar turbojet.
  
  
• Mirage IIIA: Evaluation machines with fuselage stretch, only a handful built, essentially an evaluation machine.
  
  
• Mirage IIIC: Initial production machines, with incremental fuselage stretch and full operational kit.
  
  
• Mirage IIIE: Mirage IIIC with further incremental fuselage stretch, and a number of refinements.
  
  
• Mirage IIIO: Australian Mirage IIIE, with minor changes.
  
  
• Mirage IIIS: Swiss Mirage IIIE, later updated with canards and new avionics.
  
  
• Mirage IIIB/IIID: Two-seat Mirage III conversion trainers.
  
  
• Mirage IIIR: Mirage IIIs with camera nose.
  
  
• Mirage 5: Mirage IIIE with no radar and slender nose.
  
  
• Milan: Mirage III update with "moustache" nose fins, did not enter production.
  
  
• Mirage 50: Updated Mirage 5 with new avionics and uprated Atar engine.
  
  
• Mirage 3NG: Prototype of "next generation" Mirage III, with canards, leading-edge wing root extensions, and modernized avionics; it did not enter production, but it was the basis for upgrades of older Mirages.
  
  
• Pantera: Chilean update of Mirage 50s, with canards and new avionics.
  
  
• Nesher: Israeli copy of Mirage 5, produced by IAI; exported as "Dagger".
  
  
• Raam / Barak: Israeli Mirage IIIs updated with GE J79 engine.
  
  
• Kfir-C1: Nesher with GE J79 engine.
  
  
• Kfir-C2: Kfir-C1 with canards and other aerodynamic improvements, most Kfir-C1s being updated to this configuration.
  
  
• Kfir-TC2: Two-seat Kfir-C2 with long nose.
  
  
• Kfir-C7/TC7: Late-production Kfir-C2/TC2s with 9 stores pylons, updated avionics, and new munitions.
  
  
• Nammer: Next-generation Kfir for export market, did not go into production.
  
  
• Kfir-C10/TC10: Kfir upgrade with new radar and other modernized avionics.
  
  
• Kfir-C12/TC12: Like Kfir-C10/TC10 upgrade, but without new radar.
  
  
• Cheetah E: Baseline Cheetah fighter, upgraded from Mirage IIIE airframes by Atlas, featuring canards, inflight refueling probe, modernized avionics, and carriage of South African munitions; about 16 made.
  
  
• Cheetah C: Improved single-seat Cheetah fighter, with at least 38 built by upgrades.
  
  
• Cheetah D: Two-seat Cheetah, about 16 made by conversion from Mirage IIIDs.
  
  
• Cheetah R: Dedicated reconnaissance Cheetah, only one built, possibly an upgrade from a Mirage IIIR.
  
  
• Balzac: VTOL demonstrator, adapted from the first Mirage III prototype, with eight lift engines. Lost in a fatal crash.
  
  
• Mirage IIIV: Prototype Mirage VTOL fighter, with JTF10 turbofan and eight lift engines, two built.

[2.5] COMMENTS, SOURCES, & REVISION HISTORY

* Writing this document was troublesome, since there are so many minor variations on the Mirage III series, including rebuilds and even rebuilds of rebuilds, that keeping track was a major headache.

I have only seen a Mirage, or rather a pair of them, once, but it was memorable. I was stationed with the US Army in Germany in 1974:75 and was running through a vineyard one day when two of them roared over my head at low altitude. I can still clearly recall the image of their hot stovepipes and feel the roar of their Atar engines.

* Sources include:

• THE COMPLETE BOOK OF FIGHTERS, by William Green and Gordon Swanborough, Smithmark Books, 1994
  
  
• VTOL MILITARY RESEARCH AIRCRAFT, by Mike Rogers, Haynes Publishing, 1989
  
  
• THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD MILITARY AIRCRAFT, edited by David Donald & Jon Lake, Barnes & Noble, 2000
  
  
• "Mirage III/5/50 Variant Briefing", by Paul Jackson, WORLD AIR POWER JOURNAL, volumes 14, 15, and 16
  
  
• "Atlas Cheetah" by Jon Lake, WORLD AIR POWER JOURNAL, Volume 27 / Winter 1996
  
  
• "Mirage III In RAAF Service: The 'French Lady' Down Under" by Nigel Pittaway, INTERNATIONAL AIR POWER REVIEW, Volume 12 / Spring 2004
  
  
• "Pakistan's Amazing Mirages" by Alan Warnes, COMBAT AIRCRAFT, December 2013

* Revision history:

   v1.0   / 20 jul 97
   v1.1   / 22 sep 97 / Review & polish.
   v1.2   / 01 aug 98 / Review & polish.
   v2.0   / 01 apr 00 / Broke out materials, big update.
   v2.1.0 / 01 nov 02 / New illustrations, Cheetah, user list.
   v2.1.1 / 01 nov 04 / Review & polish.
   v2.1.2 / 01 nov 06 / Review & polish.
   v2.1.3 / 01 feb 09 / Review & polish.
   v3.0.0 / 01 aug 09 / Broke into two chapters.
   v3.0.1 / 01 jul 11 / Review & polish.
   v3.0.2 / 01 jun 13 / Review & polish.
   v3.1.0 / 01 may 15 / Kfir comments, dropped user list, added variant list.
   v3.1.1 / 01 apr 17 / Review & polish.
   v3.1.2 / 01 mar 19 / Review & polish.
   v3.1.3 / 01 jan 21 / Review & polish.
   v3.1.4 / 01 nov 22 / Review & polish.
   v3.1.5 / 01 oct 24 / Review & polish. (+)

The original versions of this document discussed the Mirage 2000 and Mirage IV. As of v2.0, these discussions were removed and set up as new stand-alone documents, while the original text on the Mirage III/5/50 was extensively rewritten.