- Yes, don’t care how
- Yes, as a researchable vehicle
- Yes, as a premium/event/squadron vehicle
- No
Welcome to another suggestion, in this one we’ll be having a look at the Mirage 50M, a very close cousin to the Mirage IIING.
The story of this aircraft is in fact largely the same as the one of the IIING because they’re the same aircraft, just different iterations in time of it. The airframe was first newly built as the Mirage IIING 01. Featuring all the improvements that that airframe had. This means it has the APEX extensions (means the front of the delta is slightly extended until it pretty much reaches the air intake), canards and it also features the more powerful Atar 09K50 engine from the Mirage F1. These changes greatly helped to reduce the amount of energy that was lost during aggressive maneuvers. While the Mirage IIING first took to the skies in 1981, it wouldn’t be until 1987 that the same aircraft now called Mirage 50M would make its first public appearance at the Paris air show. At this point, however, it wasn’t the same anymore as the NG standard that had been previously presented. Since the NG had failed to attract any orders, Dassault had revaluated the project and thought about how they could make the vehicle more interesting for potential buyers. They figured that some of the advanced systems present on the NG were most likely too expensive and too complicated for smaller nations to maintain. As a result of this, the IIING was modified and simplified. The Fly-By-Wire system was entirely removed and so was the radar. The aircraft was renamed Mirage 50M and once again offered to customers. History sadly repeated itself and the 50M too failed to attract any orders. Dassault stopped trying to sell the aircraft and ended the project. The airframe was repainted in its colours from testing as the Mirage IIING and put on display at the Dassault plant in Seclin, where it remains to this day.
The Mirage 50M designation was later re-used as a general term for every Mirage III variant with an Atar 9K50 and canards, these usually also received proper designation according to their country though. For example, the Venezuelan Mirage 50EVs were at some point designated 50M as well, but later became 50EV.
Characteristics:
Wingspan : 8.22 m
Length : 15.65 m
Heigth : 4.50 m
Wing area : 35 m²
Canard area : 1 m²
Take off weight (clean plane and full internal fuel) : 10 tons
Maximum take off weight : 14.7 tons
Engine : SNECMA ATAR 9K50 turbojet engine 50 kN of thrust dry and 70 kN of thrust on afterburner
Thrust to weight ratio clean plane : 0.7
Thrust to weight ratio Maximum T.O : 0.47
Wing loading clean plane 285 kg/m²
Wing loading Max T.O : 420 kg/m²
Radar : No, maybe Aïda II radar rangefinder
RWR : Yes
electronic countermeasures : Yes (optional)
Armament:
- 2x 30mm DEFA
- 2x Matra R550 Magic
- Up to 14x 125kg, 250kg (SAMP type 25) or mk82 bombs
- Up to 6x 400kg bombs (SAMP type 21)
- 2x CC421 30mm gun pods
- Laser designator pod of unknow model which could guide:
- 1x 1000kg laser guided bomb (BGL-1000)
- 3x mk82 laser guided bombs (GBU-12)
- 3x 400kg laser guided bombs (BGL-400)
- 2x AS-30L
- 1x ARMAT anti-radiation missile
- 1x AM-39 Exocet
- Up to 12 Durandal anti-runway bombs
- Up to 5x Beluga cluster bombs
- Up to 8x BAP-100 anti-runway bombs
- Up to 8x BAT-120 tactical bombs (designed for countering lightly armoured targets)
Place in game:
Given its close relationship with the IIING but yet having minor differences, I see this aircraft as a different category counterpart to the former. Not too dissimilar to the situation with the F-5C and F-5A that we find in the American tree, one could be a premium while the other is an event or squadron vehicle. The 50M could also be a premium version while the better IIING sits in the tech tree. Just like the IIING this platforms offers great ground-strike capabilities, however without a radar it does lack in ability to spot enemies, which means it’ll need higher situational awareness to fly effectively.
Sources
https://www.caea.info/fr/la-collection/le-materiel/37-collection/avio-de-combat/199-dassault-mirage-iii-ng-50-m
Mirage 50: origins, characteristics and performance data
http://www.meacmtl.com/avions_2010/mirage%203ex.html
Jane’s all the world’s aircraft 1988-1989 (page 66)
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