Dassault Mirage F1

The Mirage F1 was designed as the successor of Dassault's Mirage III and Mirage 5. Unlike its predecessors, it has a swept wing mounted high on the fuselage as well as a conventional tail surface.

The first prototype (the development of which was financed by Dassault itself) first flew on 23 December 1966.
The type was officially accepted by the French Air Force in May 1967 when three further prototypes were ordered. With the bigger capacity of the SNECMA Atar 9K-50 turbojet with afterburner the F1 easily outclassed the Mirage III.

Having a smaller wingspan than the Mirage III, the F.1 nevertheless proved to be clearly superior to its predecessor. It can carry up to 40-percent more fuel, has a shorter take-off run, a superior range in lo-lo missions, and better maneuverability.

In order to comply to the French Air Force's requirement for an all-weather interceptor, the first production Mirage F1C was equipped with a Thomson-CSF Cyrano IV mono-pulse radar. The later Cyrano IV-1 version added a limited look-down capability.

The Mirage F1 entered service in May 1973 when the first production version was delivered. Initially, the aircraft was only armed with two 30 mm internal cannon, but in 1976 the R530 medium-range air-to-air missile was released for use. A year later the R550 Magic followed. During the same time, the american AIM-9 Sidewinder became part of the Mirage's F1 armament, after the Hellenic Air Force request for its own Mirage F1CG's.

The 79 aircraft of the next production run were delivered during the period March 1977 to December 1983. These were of the Mirage F1C-200 version with a fixed refuelling probe, which required an extension of the fuselage by 7 cm.
It served as the main interceptor of the French Air Force until the Mirage 2000 entered service.

Users (all variants)
Over 700 F1s have been produced and they have served in the Air Forces of over ten countries: France, Ecuador, Greece, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Qatar, South Africa and Spain. Data for Dassault Mirage F1

Dimensions:
Length: 15.33 m (50 ft 3 in)
Wingspan: 8.44 m (27 ft 8 in)
Height: 4.49 m (14 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 25 m² (270 ft²)

Weights:
Empty weight: 7,400 kg (16,315 lb)
Loaded weight: 11,130 kg (24,540 lb)
Maximum gross takeoff weight: 16,200 kg (35,715 lb)

Powerplant:
Powerplant: 1× SNECMA Atar 9K-50 afterburning turbojet, 70.21 kN with afterburner (15,785 lbf)

Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.1, 2,573 km/h at 11,000 m (1,600 mph at 36,000 ft)
Range: 425 km combat with a typical payload, 2,150 km ferry (265 mi / 1,335 mi)
Service ceiling: 20,000 m (65,600 ft)
Rate of climb: 215 m/s (42,320 ft/min)
Wing loading: lb/ft² (kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.64:1

Armament:
2x 30 mm DEFA 553 internal fixed forward firing cannons
Up to 6,300 kg (14,000 lb) on 5 hardpoints (one under the fuselage and four under the wings) plus two missile rails on the wingtips.

Links:

http://www.combataircraft.com/aircraft/fmiraf1.aspx

http://www.vectorsite.net/avmirf1.html

Video: Mirage F1 In Tchad - Very Low Level Flight


(Adapted from http://www.wikipedia.org)