Mirage 4000. such a great aircraft gone down the drain.

[P.A.F]

The Mirage 4000

The decision to launch work on the production of a twin-engine aircraft concurrently with the single-engine Mirage 2000 was taken by the authorities in September 1976. Since the Mirage 4000 is a technological upgrade of the Mirage 2000 (except the front part of the aircraft which is equipped with a fixed canard ancillary wing, dismountable and adjustable in flight) – the design and construction of the two new aircraft were carried out simultaneously.

French aeronautical manufacturers self-financed the development of the Mirage 4000 in particular Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation which was responsible for the airframe and supervised the assembly phase. Jet engines were borrowed from the government under the June 21, 1978 agreement with the Minister of Defense : the Snecma M 53 engines were taken from the stock of the Mirage 2000 program.

Composite materials used in the Mirage 4000 enabled a considerable weight reduction and excellent resistance to fatigue. The Mirage 4000 was the world’s first aircraft to have a fin made from a carbon-coated composite containing petrol. It has a fuel tank capacity three times greater than that of the Mirage 2000 and can also be refueled in flight.
On March 9, 1979, one year after the delivery of the Mirage 2000, the two-seat Mirage 4000 powered with two Snecma M 53 engines flew for the first time at Istres with Jean-Marie Saget at the controls. Right from its sixth flight, the Mirage 4000 achieved Mach 2, an exceptional performance. It confirmed predictions by reaching 50,000 feet at Mach 2 in 3 min 50 secs.

The king of Saudi Arabia and the Shah of Iran were interested in the Mirage 4000 program even before its first flight. Although serious talks went on, no agreemnt on the sale was reached.
No order was placed for the five planned production models and commercialization abroad became very uncertain.


the above info is off the dassault web-site.

a few pics:
http://www.dassault-aviation.com/documents/media/ACF418.jpg

my question is. can this aircraft come back into service if some country shows interest?????

 

[SABRE]

It was useless to pursue Mirage-4000 project with RAFALE just in the corner. Mirage-4000 is just a scaled up twin engine version of Mirage2000, RAFALE also happens to be twin engine but with better technology & Avionics. So if Frecnh were looking for a strong Twin Engine AC than RAFALE was a better choice or if they were looking for new generation fighter than again RAFALE was the better choice.

Saudi Arabia & Shah of Iran were initialy interested in Mirage-4000 but Shah was ousted & Saudis realized that the AC being similar to Mirage2000 has no point for being purchased. It was better to purchase Mirage2000.

PS Dessault could only pursue one project. It was either Mirage4000 or RAFALE & they took the next generation AC Rafale for current modern need.

It would have been waist of good money if French had pursued both ACs.

 

[P.A.F]

it flys at mach 2.2 and flys at a maximum high of 20,000m. both these exceed rafale. it has 3 times more fuel space than the mirage 2000-5. this also exceeds the rafale. in my point of view it has more potential in the bombing and maybe as a whole multi-role role than the rafale as it is faster so it can get away from any missiles easier. it also carries more fuel without fuel tanks so there will be more hardpoints available and finally it can fly higher than the rafale. it justs needs to be fitted with High-tech avionics then i may be one of the beasts of the skys. if there is a potential buyer then i can see this plane back in full-time action

 

[P.A.F]

another picture

 

[JoeinTX]

The Mirage 4000 was a very interesting aircraft, but "Sabre" nailed it with his answer.The 4000 was a simple demonstrator without request as an example of what Dassault could do with the technology on hand. Impressive, but not enough so that anyone was seriously interested in buying it.
Think about it.... The Armee D'le Air did not operate an aircraft as complex or expensive as this at the time and it's primary goal was replacing Mirage IIIs (later F-1s). The 4000 would have been a dramatic overkill and not to mention a budget problem. The 2000 was still advanced but also still economical enough to be bought in enough numbers.
Think of this. What was going to fill the decks of French carriers in the future if the 4000 would have been bought? It was a pure land design which would have required expensive redesign for carrier use besides being much larger than the Etendard or even the Rafale. How many navalized 4000s could you crammed onto a Foch or CDG? Ten/twelve at most and still have room to operate...?
Ultimately, would you rather have around 100 total 4000s in FAF service and maybe two dozen American (gasp!) F-18s in the Aeronavale or the current mix of Mirage 2000 and Rafale?

 

[fieldmarshal]

Well ur right to a certain extent,but i dont thing that the ac was a complete waste, as in many ways it could be considered to be the precurser to rafale. This is well illustrated by the simple fact that the super mirage 4000 served/used as a test bed for rafale + desault being the parent of both the ac gained vailuable experience/exxposure from super mirage and a lot of it was incoparated into rafale.

 

[JoeinTX]

Oh, don't get me wrong......I don't think the 4000 was a waste.

On the contrary, it was quite an airplane which unfortunately came along at the wrong time.

Had Dassault flown the 4000 five years earlier it might have sapped some interest from the F-15 or the Tornado....Saudi Arabia for example. Heck, for that matter, the Iranians might have thrown some serious money at it's development as they were doing with so many 1970s aircraft. Imagine Taiwan, India, or Israel flying 4000s today if the timing had been right, eh...? The 4000 was a little too late to be a player in third generation aricraft and too early to economically incorporate the technology of the fourth generation....

 

[P.A.F]

4000 compared to the 2000

 

[kashifshahzad]

I see here nice posts for mirage 4000 i think the company should develop more effective combat planes take an example of f-117 nighthawk why dont they invest in that kind of projects.These kinds of projects can give their business a big boost.yeah mirage 4000 is a good looking plane having launch pads equal to the ordinary planes so i dont see any thing special in that.The upgradation of mirage 2000 must be bigger then that.:coffee

 

[umair]

I see here nice posts for mirage 4000 i think the company should develop more effective combat planes take an example of f-117 nighthawk why dont they invest in that kind of projects.These kinds of projects can give their business a big boost.yeah mirage 4000 is a good looking plane having launch pads equal to the ordinary planes so i dont see any thing special in that.The upgradation of mirage 2000 must be bigger then that.:coffee

The Mirage-4000 was not an M2K upgrade, but a totally different aircraft in it's own right, barring the design resemblence. Primarily, it was supposed to be the French counter to the Eagle and the Flanker, though it demonstrated a handsome swingrole capability. All in all it was a really good aircraft but one which did not come at the right time. :coffee

 

[SABRE]

It came on the wrong time with a too much of a cost PS the potential rich prospects (KSA & Iran) backed out. I read some where that Marcel Dessault said that the project has not been shut down but it wont be reopened either cause of the funds it requires. Making & selling is not the main problem but reopening the project is. It cost more.

 

[hot222]

From my point of view, Rafale was the better plan. A,from scratch, 4th generation aircraft.

You must also consinder that France has to overcome all alone the cost of an aircraft development. Moreover, from maintance side, it's better to have the less possible types of aircrafts. Mirage 2000 and Rafale is a very good arsenal for France. One of the best world-wide.

 

[splat]

It was useless to pursue Mirage-4000 project with RAFALE just in the corner. Mirage-4000 is just a scaled up twin engine version of Mirage2000, RAFALE also happens to be twin engine but with better technology & Avionics. So if Frecnh were looking for a strong Twin Engine AC than RAFALE was a better choice or if they were looking for new generation fighter than again RAFALE was the better choice.

Saudi Arabia & Shah of Iran were initialy interested in Mirage-4000 but Shah was ousted & Saudis realized that the AC being similar to Mirage2000 has no point for being purchased. It was better to purchase Mirage2000.

PS Dessault could only pursue one project. It was either Mirage4000 or RAFALE & they took the next generation AC Rafale for current modern need.

It would have been waist of good money if French had pursued both ACs.

Rafales only new to service and mirage 4000 would have been around for quiet a while now.

 

[PUNIT]

mirage 2000 is a hell of fighter plane , rafale inspite of being new is not so impressive . mirage 4000 with the kernell of mirage 2000 would have been much better.