Dassault originally developed the Mirage 5 as a low cost, day ground attack fighter at the request of Israel. France embargoed delivery of Israel's 50 Mirage 5J. These aircraft were then delivered to the Armee de l'Air as Mirage 5Fs. The Mirage 5 found a large export market, following on from the success of the Mirage III. Later versions of the aircraft were offered with increasingly more sophisticated electronics. A number were fitted with lightweight radars. The last production version was the Mirage 50 which featured the more powerful Atar9K-50 turbojet of the later Mirage F-1. A number of countries have upgraded their Mirages with new avionics and canards.

Original Author: François Guérin