Dassault Mirage 5

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Dassault Mirage 5
Line-up of Belgian Mirage 5s
Type	Attack aircraft
Manufacturer	Dassault Aviation
Primary user	French Air Force
Developed from	Dassault Mirage III
Variants	IAI Nesher IAI Kfir

The Dassault Mirage 5 is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France by Dassault Aviation during the 1960s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. It was derived from Dassault's extremely successful Mirage III fighter, and spawned several variants of its own.

Contents 1 Early development 2 Mirage 5 3 Mirage 50 4 Mirage 5 ROSE Program 5 Operators 6 Specifications (Mirage IIIE) 7 References 8 External links 9 Related content

[edit] Early development

The Mirage 5, grew out of a request to Dassault from the Israeli Air Force. Since the weather over the Middle East is clear and sunny most of the time, the Israelis suggested removing avionics, normally located behind the cockpit, from the standard Mirage IIIE to reduce cost and maintenance, and replacing them with more fuel storage for attack missions. In September 1966, the Israelis placed an order for 50 units of the new aircraft.

[edit] Mirage 5

The first Mirage 5 flew on 19 May 1967. It looked much like the Mirage III, except it had a long slender nose that extended the aircraft's length by about half a metre, and made it arguably the most elegant of the Mirage delta series. A pitot tube was distinctively moved from the tip of the nose to below the nose in the majority of Mirage 5 variants.

The Mirage 5 retained the IIIE's twin DEFA guns, but added two additional pylons, for a total of seven. Maximum warload was 4,000 kg (8,800 lb). Provision for the SEPR rocket engine was deleted.

Rising tensions in the Middle East led French President Charles de Gaulle to embargo the Israeli Mirage 5s on 3 June 1967. The Mirages continued to roll off the production line, even though they were embargoed, and by 1968 the batch was complete and the Israelis had provided final payments.

In late 1969, the Israelis, who had pilots in France testing the aircraft, requested that the aircraft be transferred to Corsica, in theory to allow them to continue flight training during the winter. The French government became suspicious when the Israelis also tried to obtain long-range fuel tanks and cancelled the move.

The Israelis finally gave up trying to get the aircraft and accepted a refund. Later however, cooperation with France resumed outside the public's eye and Israel received 50 Mirage 5s in crates from AdA, while Ada took over the 50 aircraft originally intended for Israel, as Mirage 5Fs. The aircraft were delivered between May 1971 and February 1974 and put together by Israeli technicians. Officially, Israel claimed to have built the aircraft after obtaining complete blueprints, naming them Nesher. [1] [2], Wing Magazine, August 2000.

Like the Mirage IIIE, the Mirage 5 was popular with export customers, with different export variants fitted with a wide range of different avionics. While the Mirage 5 had been originally oriented to the clear-weather attack role, with some avionic fits it was refocused to the air-combat mission. As electronic systems became more compact and powerful, it was possible to provide the Mirage 5 with increased capability, even though the rear avionics bay had been deleted, therefore in some subversions Dassault finish with a reinvented Mirage IIIE.

Reconnaissance and two-seat versions of the Mirage 5 were sold, with the designation Mirage 5R, and Mirage 5D respectively. However, a little consideration of the differences between a Mirage III and a Mirage 5 quickly shows that these designations were simply for marketing purposes. There was no clear dividing line between the configuration of a Mirage III reconnaissance or trainer version and that of a Mirage 5 equivalent, and in fact they were one and the same in many cases.

The Mirage 5 was sold to Abu Dhabi, Belgium, Colombia, Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Pakistan, Peru, Venezuela, and Zaire, with the usual list of subvariant designations and variations in kit. The Belgian aircraft were fitted with mostly US avionics, and Egyptian aircraft fitted with the MS2 attack avionics system from the Dassault-Dornier Alpha Jet.

In 1978 and 1980 Israel sold a total of 35 of their Neshers plus 4 Nesher trainer aircraft (Nesher Ts) to Argentina where they were locally known first as Daggers and after their last upgrade as Fingers. The Argentines lost two IIIEA and 11 Daggers during the Falklands War in 1982, and as a measure of solidarity the Peruvians transferred ten of their Mirage 5s to Argentina, under the name Mirage Mara to help make good their losses.

Chile incorporated some Mirage 5s under name Mirage Elkan.

A total of 582 Mirage 5s were built, including 51 Israeli Neshers.

[edit] Mirage 50

The Atar 09K-50 engine, however, was still a good idea, and fit of this engine led to the next Mirage variant, the Mirage 50, during the 1970s. The uprated engine gave the Mirage 50 better take-off and climb characteristics than its predecessors. While the Mirage 50 also incorporated new avionics, such as a Cyrano IV radar system, it did not prove popular in export sales, as the first-generation Mirage series was becoming obsolescent.

Chile ordered a quantity of Mirage 50s, receiving both new production as well as updated Armee de l'Air Mirage 5s. The Chilean aircraft were later modernized along the lines of the IAI Kfir as the ENAER Pantera. The Pantera incorporates fixed canards and other aerodynamic improvements, as well as advanced avionics. These aircraft have an extended nose to accommodate some of the new systems.

In 1990, Dassault upgraded a batch of Venezuelan Mirage IIIEs and 5s to the Mirage 50 spec, with the upgrades designated Mirage 50M.

[edit] Mirage 5 ROSE Program

The ROSE program was launched by the French SAGEM to upgrade the Pakistan Air Force's Mirage III & 5 series. The upgradings took place in three stages - ROSE-I, ROSE-II, and ROSE-III. Approximately 42 Mirage IIIs underwent the ROSE I upgrade which included the addition of the Grifo M radar - which gave the PAF's ROSE I aircraft BVR capability. Under the ROSE-II program at least 40 PAF's Mirage 5 aircraft were upgraded with digital cockpits and FLIR pods; this made the ROSE II an air-to-surface strike-oriented aircraft capable of using H-series precision-guided bombs. The Mirage ROSE III is a follow-up version of the ROSE II; the PAF has 14 ROSE III aircraft in service.

[edit] Operators

Main article: List of Dassault Mirage III operators

•  United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi)
•  Argentina (from Peru)
•  Belgium
•  Chile
•  Colombia
•  Egypt
•  Gabon
•  Israel (IAI Nesher)
•  Libya
•  Pakistan
•  Peru
•  Venezuela
•  Zaire

[edit] Specifications (Mirage IIIE)

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 15 m (49 ft 3.5 in)
• Wingspan: 8.22 m (26 ft 11 in)
• Height: 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in)
• Wing area: 34.85 m² (375 ft²)
• Empty weight: 7,050 kg (15,600 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 13,500 kg (29,700 lb)
• Powerplant: 1× SNECMA Atar 09C turbojet

Performance

• Maximum speed: Mach 2.2 (2,350 km/h, 1,460 mph)
• Range: 2,400 km (1,300 nm, 1,500 mi)
• Service ceiling: 17,000 m (56,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 83.3 m/s (16,400 ft/min)
• Wing loading: 387 kg/m² (79 lb/ft²)
• Thrust/weight: 0.46

Armament

• 2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA 552 cannon with 125 rounds each
• One centerline and four underwing pylons for 4,000 kg (8,800 lb) of stores. Initial interceptor armament was one Matra R530 and two AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles (later replaced by Matra Magic R550). Besides general-purpose bombs, a customary typical ground-attack store was the Matra JL-100 drop tank/rocket pack, each containing 19 SNEB 68 mm rockets and 250 liters (66 U.S. gallons) of fuel. Some models equipped to fire AM-39 Exocet anti-ship missile; French AdA IIIEs (through 1991 equipped for AN-52 nuclear bomb).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Dassault Mirage III/5/50 Series from Greg Goebel's AIR VECTORS
• Mirage III/5/50 at FAS.org
• Mirage 5F Photo Gallery

[edit] Related content

Related development

• Dassault Mirage III
• IAI Nesher
• IAI Kfir
• Dassault Mirage 2000

Comparable aircraft

• F-5 Freedom Fighter
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21
• Sukhoi Su-9
• Sukhoi Su-11

Designation sequence

• Dassault Mirage III - IIIV - IV - 5 - 50 - F1 - G - 2000 - 2000D/N

Related lists

• List of Dassault Mirage III operators
• List of fighter aircraft
• List of military aircraft of France