Mirage 4000

[orlovsky]

The requirement was definately there, just not the nrs. The production of G4 etc would have been 100-200 for the AdA, not economical without large exports and/or cooperation. AFVG was really a missed opportunity there.
In a way, Mirage 4k went into production as the rafale, merging everything into a scaled down but modern twin-engine multirole fighter...

 

[Archibald]

1958: Mirage IVC ( = Phantom)
1967: AFVG (= Tornado, try 1)
1968: G4 (= Tornado, try 2)
1971: G8 (= Tornado, try 3)
1972: ACF (= F-15, try 1)
1976: Mirage 4000 (= F-15, try 2)

In the end, the solution was to shrink the turbofans and the plane around them from F-15 to F-18 in size. It should be noted that a lot of nations interested in F-15s picked F-18s instead.

 

[orlovsky]

F-18 is a decade, rafale 2 decades later, making more in a smaller airframe possible.
And wasn't there an F-15 requirement to deploy over the atlantic?

 

[H_K]

1967: AFVG (= Tornado, try 1)
1968: G4 (= Tornado, try 2)
1971: G8 (= Tornado, try 3)
1972: ACF (= F-15, try 1)
1976: Mirage 4000 (= F-15, try 2)

Hmm how about Mirage F2, the interim platform while waiting for AFVG? That was try 1 IMHO.

G4 and G8 are basically the same, with G8 being more export oriented (single seat, simpler avionics).

ACF and Mirage 4000 arguably are still Tornados, but now combined with the F-15 air superiority mission as technology evolves (1) Move from variable geometry to unstable fly-by-wire platforms, (2) Move from high bypass turbofans (e.g. TF306) to low bypass supersonic/high altitude optimized M53 (partly in response to the Mig 25 threat), (4) Improved avionics including future Doppler air-to-air radars, (5) Composites and other structural weight savings... However low level penetration was still very much part of the original requirement as the plan was always to deliver the strike version first before the fighter version.

 

[F-2]

I got the impression that the Mirage 4000 would have made a great air superiority platform, it was marketed more as a Strike Eagle type platform. ACF was not a pound for air to ground, with proto RDI, though the airframe was less interesting then the 4000 for air superiority.

 

[H_K]

ACF was not a pound for air to ground, with proto RDI, though the airframe was less interesting then the 4000 for air superiority.

Not quite. ACF was always envisioned as two variants, a single seat interceptor and 2-seat striker. Initially the interceptor would come first but that was later flipped due to delays in avionics development (getting pulse Doppler radar technology to work). So the first ACF prototype ordered was actually the two seater strike variant.

However there was a decision that any conflicts in technical solutions should favor the air defense role over the strike role, which is one of the reasons why the Mirage 4000 looked more like a (very good) Strike Eagle and less like a Tornado.