Dassault Mirage 5
The simplified day-attack Mirage — radar out, fuel and pylons in, and a bestseller with ten export air forces · First flight 1967 · Still in service in Pakistan
The Mirage 5 came from an Israeli Air Force request for a simpler ground-attack Mirage. In Middle Eastern weather the IIIE's intercept radar and the avionics behind the cockpit could be removed to save cost and maintenance, and the space used for fuel. Israel ordered 50 in September 1966, and the first Mirage 5 flew on 19 May 1967. It had a longer, slimmer nose that added about half a metre, kept the twin DEFA guns, had seven pylons instead of five, and dropped the SEPR rocket provision.
France embargoed the Israeli aircraft in June 1967, and the batch was eventually taken up by the French Air Force as the Mirage 5F. Other customers ordered their own versions in large numbers, and as avionics shrank some sub-types were fitted with radar again. Belgium ordered 106, licence-built by SABCA as the 5BA attack, 5BR reconnaissance and 5BD trainer models with largely US avionics. Pakistan's versions ranged from the radarless 5PA to the Agave-radar, Exocet-capable 5PA3.
In total 582 Mirage 5s were built, including 51 Israeli Neshers, and the line continued with the uprated Atar 9K50-powered Mirage 50. Pakistan has kept its fleet current through the ROSE upgrade programmes, adding new cockpits and FLIR for night attack, and still flies the type in numbers.
