- Yes, don’t care how
- Yes, as a researchable vehicle
- Yes, as a premium/event/squadron vehicle
- No
Hello everyone, in this repost of a repost of a @Tantor57 suggestion, we’ll be having a look at the Mirage IIING. All credit goes to Tantor, he has written and researched everything for the post and due to a lack of time has given me the permission to reupload his suggestion.
HISTORY :
The Mirage 3 NG (NG stands for Nouvelle Génération or New Generation ) is an ultimate variant of the Mirage 3/5/50 family imagined by Dassault Bréguet in the early 1980s intended for existing customers of the Mirage 3/5/50 or new clients that wished to acquire a very modern and affordable jet fighter. The Mirage 3 NG could be acquired via modernization of already existing customer’s fleet of Mirage 3/5/50 to the 3 NG standard or by directly ordering new planes. The Mirage 3 NG is based on the Mirage 50 itself being a further development of the Mirage 5, the strike variant of the Mirage III. The Mirage 3 NG is nothing less than a Mirage 50 with a redesigned delta wing featuring an APEX, fixed canards, and last but not least, a fly-by-wire system derived from that of the Mirage 2000.
The first prototype flew in 1981 at the hand of Patrick Experton and its flight performances were a vast improvement over the original mirage 3 thanks to the APEX and fixed canards, which coupled to the powerful SNECMA ATAR 9K50 delivering 70,6 KN of thrust, greatly helped to mitigate the loss of speed during aggressive maneuvers with a high angle of attack, during this flight the plane was not yet equipped with fly by wire controls. To further improve the already great performance of this aircraft and give it a better chance of being sold in a very competitive export market, Dassault decided to replace the original flight controls by a full fly-by-wire system in order to squeeze every bit of performance the plane could deliver and make it a true modern fighter.
In this final form, the plane was proposed on the export market from 1983 until 1987 (even if Dassault stopped the promotion of the type as soon as 1984) without receiving a single order, most nations favoring more recent aircrafts such as the F16 or the Mirage 2000C. It was stored at Istres where no one really took care of it, before being restored by a CAEA team and displayed in front of Dassault Aviation Factory at Seclin.
The Mirage 3 NG was a completely different plane from the first Mirage III that started to be developed almost 30 years earlier. Sadly the legendary bird could only be pushed so far and at a time where F15, F16, Mirage 2000C, Mig 29, etc… were filling the skies of their respective country, the Mirage 3 NG was the swan song for an aircraft that definitely left its mark in aviation history. More than a simple piece of high technology meant to be sold, the Mirage 3 NG is very certainly a tribute made by Dassault to its most successful machine so far.
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
Armament : see the brochure
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 : Cyrano IV from the Mirage F1 or Agave from the Mirage 5
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 War Thunder :
Despite its low air-to-air loadout, the Mirage 3NG with its vastly improved aerodynamics and FBW system would be a very dangerous dogfighter. The aircraft also benefits from having the ability to carry its own laser designator pod which gives it the ability to function as a highly effective air-to-ground platform. The aircraft could have its rightful place in the game at Rank VII as a premium vehicle or an event vehicle where I think it would fit the most. If it had to be in the tech tree, maybe this could sit between the Mirage F1 and the Mirage 2000. Compared to the Mirage F1 it’d lose armament for better flight characteristics.
Sources
Commercial brochure of Dassault-Bréguet aviation May 1983
Jane’s All the world’s aircraft 1986-1987:
Jane’s all the world’s aircraft 1982-1983:
Jane’s all the world’s aircraft 1984-1985:
