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Hello and welcome to my first contribution to the French Aviation Suggestions! Today I will be suggesting one of the lesser known planes that France operated, that would be able to fill very important gaps between the current Mirage 5F and the Rafale.
The Dassault Mirage 4000, A.K.A. Super Mirage 4000 (henceforth referred to as Mirage 4000) was an independent project taken up by aircraft manufacturers in France to create a design that utilized twin engines that could exist simultaneously as the Mirage 2000 series. The primary producer of the plane, of whom provided the airframe and supervised the assembly phase, was Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation, who in conjunction with the French government were able to aquired several Snecma M 53 engines for testing with the Mirage 4000. With the addition of these engines side by side, the Mirage 4000 was able to achieve an overall Thrust to Weight Ratio of over 1.1, while having the ability to store more than three times the amount of fuel as the Mirage 2000 as well as including in flight refueling capability, further extending its combat range. To further increase the ability of the plane across the board, they went from the all-metal assembly of the Mirage 2000 to a design primarily utilizing composites, significantly lowering the overall weight of the aircraft while maintaining the structure of it.
One of the most major changes when it comes to utilization in game is its sheer size. With the current Mirage 2000 5F, you are only capable of using a total of 4 Air to Air missiles, whereas the Mirage 4000 was capable of mounting up to 8 Magic missiles, or 4 R-530D RADAR guided missiles and 2 Magic 2’s. During the project’s middle stages of development when it was trying to find buyers for the program, they looked to the middle east in Iran and Syria. While the two countries initially showed interest, the Mirage 4000 was decidedly not chosen, as they had instead decided to utilize the new Tornado for their new aircraft. France was decidedly focused on improving the Mirage 2000, leaving no buyers for the aircraft in the market.
With nowhere to go for the new aircraft, the production line of the Mirage 4000 was never able to begin, and the project was canceled in the early 1980’s, with the final fight of the aircraft taking place on the 8th of January, in 1988, where it would take off for the final time, finishing the only prototype’s 366th flight.
The Mirage 4000 provides a unique option for the French in game even though it wasn’t able to see that success in real life. The larger missile load offered to the aircraft give a far more forgiving experience compared to the current Mirage 2000, and near the end of the program the aircraft was projected to be able to mount the soon to come into service MICA missile.
Specifications
Spoiler
- Crew: 1
- Length: 18.7 m
- Wingspan: 12 m
- Height: 5.8 m
- Wing area: 72.7 m2
- weight: 13400 kg (empty), 16100 kg (combat), 32000 kg (max).
- Wing loading: 220 kg/m2 at combat weight
- Fuel capacity: approx 9 tonnes of internal fuel
- Powerplant: 2x SNECMA M53-2 (5500 kg dry and 8500 with Afterburner) or 2x SNECMA M53-5 (5613 kg dry and 9000 with Afterburner) or 2x SNECMA M53-P2 (6560 kg dry and 9700 with Afterburner)
Performance
Spoiler
- Maximum speed: 2,445 km/h (1,519 mph, 1,320 kn) max level speed
- Maximum speed: Mach 2.3
- Maximum sustained speed: M 2.2
- Approach speed: 260 km/h (160 mph; 140 kn)
- Range: 2,000 km (1,200 mi, 1,100 nmi)
- Combat range: 1,850 km (1,150 mi, 1,000 nmi) plus, with external tanks and recce pod
- Service ceiling: 20,000 m (66,000 ft)
- Rate of climb: 305 m/s (60,000 ft/min)
- Time to altitude: 15,000 m (49,213 ft) and Mach 2 in 3 minutes
- T/W
- M53-2 with afterburner empy: 1.27
- M53-5 with afterburner empy: 1.34
- M53-P2 with afterburner empy: 1.45
Weapons Loadout
Spoiler
- Guns:
- 2× 30 mm (1.181 in) DEFA cannon with 125 rpg
- Hardpoints: 12 with a capacity of 8,000 kg (17,637 lb)+, with provisions to carry combinations of:
- up to 3× 2,500 L (660 US gal; 550 imp gal) drop tanks
- FLIR pod
- Recce pod
- laser designator pod
- Rockets:
- up to 4× rocket pods
- Missiles:
- 4× long-range R-530’s
- 8-14 advanced AAMs (MICA)
- up to 4 AGMs
- Bombs:
- up to 14 x 250 kg MK 82 Laser Guided Bombs
- up to 27 × 250 kg (551 lb) bombs
Loadout
In flight varied Loadout
8 Magic 2 Loadout
Xray + Cockpit
Sources
Spoiler
Mirage 4000 | Secret Projects Forum
Pioneers and Prototypes | Air & Space Forces Magazine
Magazine Le Fana de l’Aviation - Éditions - Lariviere
Mirage 4000: origins, characteristics and performance data
Snecma M53 - Wikipedia
Dassault Aviation, acteur majeur de l'aéronautique
EDIT: Combat weight changed from 17740kg to 16100kg. (Source: Dassault Aviation)
