Dassault Mirage 50

Multirole Strike Fighter Aircraft [ 1980 ]

The Mirage 50 was offered by Frnace-based Dassault Aviation as an upgraded form of its Mirage III and Mirage V series aircraft family lines.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 05/28/2019 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

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Dassault Aviation of France developed its "Mirage 50" as an export-minded successor to the in-service Mirage 5/IV strike aircraft line. The Mirage 5 was accepted into service with many global air powers including France (50), Israel (61, as the IAI "Nesher", and Pakistan (112) where it continues with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in a much modernized form. Origins of the Mirage 50 lay in an original Israeli Air Force (IAF) requirement for such an aircraft, following the established design lines and excellent qualities of the proven Mirage III model - though made slightly longer and with a more slender nose section, and this commitment resulted in the Mirage 5/V detailed elsewhere on this site.

An embargo precluded the Mirage V ever being delivered to Israel but the nation nonetheless persevered to produce its own version (though it remains unclear whether this was with or without Dassault assistance), this becoming the IAI "Nesher" detailed elsewhere on this site).

The Mirage 50 is an outgrowth of the Mirage 5 series fighters.

The follow-up Mirage 50 took on the SNECMA Atar 9K-50 afterburning turbojet engine (from which the Mirage 50 gets its name) of 15,873lb thrust output and also saw an upgrade to its avionics set for a truly modern multi-mission solution. The intakes were slightly modified to accommodate the new engine fit and a single Mirage IIIR production model served as the modified prototype Mirage 50 form - this aircraft taking to the air for the first time on April 15th, 1975 and making its public debut at the Paris Air Show in 1979. During testing, this "re-imagined" Mirage III was able to see an increase to both performance and handling while being able to carry more ordnance and use up less runway on take-off actions.

Armament-wise, the aircraft was given 2 x 30mm ADEN automatic cannons in internal housings while multiple external hardpoints supported the usual range of air-to-air and air-to-surface air-launched/-air-dropped munitions already in circulation with many current Mirage III/Mirage V operators. In this way, the Mirage 50 was a true multirole solution, capable of interception, 1v1 dog-fighting, airspace deterrent, general ground attack, ranged patrolling, and reconnaissance all from the same airframe.

The aircraft retained the single-seat, single-engine arrangement established with the Mirage III line as well as its delta-wing planform. With the delta-winged planform, no horizontal tail planes were needed. While aspirated by the twin, semi-circular intakes featured at either side of the fuselage, the single-engine installation exhausted through a sole exhaust port under the rudder fin. Internally, the aircraft came radar equipped with the Cyrano IVM multi-function unit or this could be replaced with the Agave series as needed. A tricycle undercarriage allowed for ground-running. At the aft-end of the fuselage was the single-finned rudder

Chile became the first export customer of the Mirage 50 and committed to an order of sixteen aircraft (designated as "Mirage 50C" or "Mirage 50CH"), this order to also include two dedicated twin-seat trainer airframes (as "Mirage 50DC" with lower-rated Atar 9C-3 turbojet engines). The initial portion of this order was made up of eight ex-French Air Force Mirage VF (5F) platforms refurbished and modernized for the customer as "Mirage 50FGs". The Chilean stock were eventually upgraded, with Israel's help, to become the "Pantera" branded locally by ENAER (detailed elsewhere on this site).

Venezuela had its fleet of outdated Mirage IIIEV and 5V platforms to the newer "Mirage 50EV"standard (also "Mirage 50M"). In the same way, its Mirage 5DV models became the "Mirage 50DV". About eighteen total Mirage 50s were operated by the Venezuelan Air Force.

Ecuador currently (2019) operates just six Mirage 50 aircraft.©MilitaryFactory.com

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Specifications

Service Year

1980

Origin

France

Status

RETIRED
In Limited Service.

Crew

1

Production

40
UNITS

Dassault Aviation - France

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

Chile; Ecuador; Venezuela

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Ground Attack (Bombing, Strafing)
Ability to conduct aerial bombing of ground targets by way of (but not limited to) guns, bombs, missiles, rockets, and the like.

✓ Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

✓ Training (General)
Developed ability to be used as a dedicated trainer for student pilots (typically under the supervision of an instructor).

Length

51.0 ft
(15.55 m)

Width/Span

27.0 ft
(8.22 m)

Height

13.9 ft
(4.25 m)

Empty Wgt

15,763 lb
(7,150 kg)

MTOW

30,203 lb
(13,700 kg)

Wgt Diff

+14,440 lb
(+6,550 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Dassault Mirage 50 production variant)

Installed: 1 x SNECMA Atar 9K-50 afterburning turbojet engine developing 15,873lb of thrust.

Max Speed

913 mph
(1,470 kph | 794 kts)

Ceiling

39,370 ft
(12,000 m | 7 mi)

Range

777 mi
(1,250 km | 2,315 nm)

Rate-of-Climb

36,610 ft/min
(11,159 m/min)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Dassault Mirage 50 production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

STANDARD, FIXED:
2 x 30mm ADEN automatic cannons in internal placements.

OPTIONAL:
Typical mix of air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, conventional drop bombs, guided-drop bombs, rocket pods, and jettisonable fuel tanks.

Supported Types

Graphical image of an aircraft automatic cannon

Graphical image of an air-to-air missile weapon

Graphical image of a short-range air-to-air missile

Graphical image of an aircraft air-to-surface missile

Graphical image of aircraft aerial rockets

Graphical image of an aircraft rocket pod

Graphical image of an aircraft conventional drop bomb munition

Graphical image of an aircraft external fuel tank

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

Hardpoint Mountings: 7

Mirage 50 - Base Series Designation.

Mirage 50C - New-build Chilean Air Force model; six completed.

Mirage 50FG / 50FC - Refurnished ex-French Air Force Mirage 5F models for Chilean Air Force.

Mirage 50DC - Twin-seat trainer models for Chilean Air Force.

Mirage 50CH - Chilean Air Force model.

Mirage 50CN "Pantera" - Modernized Mirage 50 with assistance from IAI of Israel.

Mirage 50EV - Venezuelan Mirage IIIEV and Mirage 5V models upgraded to "evolved" standard.

Mirage 50DV - Venezuelan Air Force twin-seat trainer models.

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