With the continuous progress of the global aviation industry, military aircraft are also facing increasingly frequent updates and obsolescence. The convergence between advanced military aircraft is becoming more and more pronounced, especially in the current design of fifth-generation fighters around the world.
However, if we exclude the special category of stealth fighters, then the heavy fighters that countries around the world are equipped with today are mainly concentrated in two series: the American F-15 and a series of modifications derived from the Soviet Su-27. Most of the older generation of heavy fighters, such as the F-4 and MiG-23, have been eliminated, or continue to escort *** after a certain degree of improvement.
The F-14 fighter jet is one of the high-profile models, and only a handful of Persian Cats are still struggling in the Iranian army today. The multi-type heavy fighters that used to soar into the skies are almost extinct, and even some designs have never been given a chance to fight in real combat. The Mirage-4000 is one of these fighters that have been eliminated by the years.
The Mirage 4000 is a development of the Mirage 2000 fighter with the addition of an engine and improvements in size and performance. They are powered by M53 engines developed by SNECMA in France. The Mirage 4000 is 20 longer than the Mirage 2000, with a 33 more wingspan and 80 more wing area, while also applying a number of unique technologies.
It is the world's first all-composite fighter with a built-in fuel tank and a tail, and the overall design resembles an enlarged version of the Mirage-2000. However, despite its excellent performance, the Mirage 4000 failed to enter mass production due to its high price, which no country chose to procure.
According to Dassault's vision, the French Air Force plans to use light and heavy fighters to form a high-low lineup, and initially considered using the Mirage-4000. However, due to its relative overperformance (the Mirage-2000 was already considered sufficient for the vast majority of use cases) and high costs (including higher selling prices, usage and maintenance fees), the French Air Force eventually canceled the procurement program.
At that time, France did not have the same strong national power as the United States, and its limited military budget was no longer able to support the procurement of a sufficient number of Mirage-2000 fighters, let alone set aside a budget for the research and development of next-generation fighters. In this case, as a high-cost heavy fighter, the Mirage-4000 naturally could not get a chance.
Dassault then decided to move the Mirage-4000 to the international market. During the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq became a potential buyer. Since Iraq did not have advanced fighter jets to confront Iranian F-14s at that time, Iraq became an ideal potential buyer. However, this plan was ultimately not realized due to insufficient funding on the Iraqi side.
Coupled with the lack of procurement approval from its own air force and the strong competition of the United States in the arms sales market, Saudi Arabia, which was originally interested in purchasing, finally chose the American F-15 fighter jet. The fate of the Mirage-4000 was regrettable, and the only remaining prototype was sent to the French Aviation Museum for display after it was used in early tests of the Rafale fighter in the mid-1980s.
The main performance parameters of the Mirage-4000 include: length 187 meters with a wingspan width of 120 meters, the wing area reaches 730 square meters, the fuselage has an empty weight of 13,400 kg and a full take-off weight of 32,000 kg. It is powered by two Snecma M53 turbofan engines and is capable of reaching a top speed of 2 mphMach 5, landing speed of 260 kmh, climb rate of 18,300 meters per minute, practical ceiling of 20,000 meters.
In terms of range, the Mirage-4000 is capable of carrying 2,000 kilometers of in-flight fuel, or 3,700 kilometers with three 1,700-liter drop fuel tanks. Its combat radius is usually more than 1000 km. In terms of stationary armament, the Mirage-4000 is armed with two DEFA 554 caliber 30 mm cannons.
The Mirage-4000 has a total of 11 hardpoints, and can be mounted with a weight of more than 8000 kg. Designed at the same time as the Mirage-2000, all Mirage-2000 can be used, including all types of air-to-air missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, bombs and rockets.
Due to the fact that the Mirage-4000 has a larger airframe, its fuel load is about three times that of the Mirage-2000, and the maximum take-off weight is increased from 17 to 32 tons. More space in the nose allows for larger diameter radar antennas. (According to the original design, the Mirage-4000 will be equipped with the same RDM pulse-Doppler radar provided by Thomson-CSF as the Mirage-2000, but the radar antenna diameter can reach 80 cm) Compared with the Mirage-2000, the overall performance advantage is huge.
Finally, let's once again appreciate this heavy fighter with a French romance.