Sorin® French Fighters Page
This page was last updated on 16.01.2001 21:02
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Information about the D'assault Etendard
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Information about the D'assault SuperEtendard
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In the late 1970s, the French Navy decided that it's Etendard fighters are too old for its aircraft carriers, so the French government asked the
Aerospatielle and D'assault companies to come up with something new. Since the beginning, many french officials didn't agree with D'assault's project, to upgrade the Etendard to a new fighter, the SuperEtandard. This was a very expensive and unefficient project, the american F18 Hornet (which had just entered service at the time, 1978) was far more suited for the job and also cheaper. Adding to this, buying american aircraft ment thaat there wasn't any need for many many other million dollars for research. But the French government wanted an 100% french fighter for the navy, no matter its price or performance. This nationalistic way of thinking gaved birth to the SuperEtandard.
The SuperEtendard doesn't has a wide range of weapons, and it was actualy built to be a weapon platform for only one weapon: The Exocet anti-ship missile. After my personal opinion, the Exocet missile is the only good thing in that airplane, and the SuperEtendard without the Exocet is a crow without wings.
The Exocet is a long range radar-guided anti-ship missile, and its name is hated in many houses in the UK, by women who are now widdows since 1982.
In april 1982, the Argentinian dictator-president decided that the Falklands, or the Malvinas, as they say, are entire argentinian lands, so they attacked them. The small british task force in Port Stanley was quickley conquered, and Argentina now ruled the Islands by force.
Back in the UK, the Iron Lady, Margaret Thacher, gave order to the Royal Navy to take back the Islands by force. But fighting a war 13 000 km away was something that the RN wasn't prepared for.
However, a few days after, HMS Hermes, HMS Illustrious and many other RN ships went fighting a war that had catched them completley unprepared.
The aircraft carriers were equiped with Harrier and updated Sea Harrier fighters, but the were short range, low altitude aircraft who's role was to perform nuclear strikes. But now those Harrier should fight against Argentinian high-speed high-altitude dedicated air-air Mirage and SuperEtendard fighters, a thought that wasn't too relaxing for the british pilots.
In one day, after several haressments to the RN, in which they lost several Mirage fighters, the argentinians decide to strike unexpectedly.
At 7 o'clock in the morning, taking-off from an remote airfield in Tierra del Fuego, two SuperEtendards, marked 02 and 03 were flying north. Many miles in the north, they met with an KC-10 Extender tanker, and after refueling they started to go south, towards the unexpecting british fleet.
Flying at low-altitude, benith british ship's radars, the two SuperEtendards got separated a few miles off their targets and continued their flight.
Suddently, the unsuspecting Royan Navy noticed on its radars two incoming aircraft. But it was too late. The two SuperEtendards got up and turn their radars on just for a few seconds, to lock and fire their deadly Exocet anti- ship missiles. The RN couldn't do anything. A destroyer that was in the area protecting the carriers was hit by one of the missiles. Sheffield sanked soon
after, taking many people benith the surface forever.
One of my members, Sciamachy, told me of how his mother woke him up at 2am when he was 12, to see how Sheffield is burning on TV.
The argentinian pilots' reaction was first one of joy.
"I thought then about what a great weapon we've got. But as I was heading back home, I realised that many people have died because of me", sais the pilot of the 03 fighter. Soon after this incident, the conflict was over and the brits took back the Flaklands. The Argentinian Air Force signed a contract with the french government and D'assault many years before of the
conflict, and until April 1982 they got 5 SuperEtendards and 5 Exocet missiles. However, after the conflict begun, France denied any more deliveries to Argentina, and some ground-operator crews that were suposed to leave for France to train for handling the Exocet missile and the aircraft were sent back. So the argentinians had to operate their new fighters and weapons all by themselves, and, apparently, they did it remarcably.
Information about the D'assault Mirage F2
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The Mirage 2 is another delta-wing Mirage fighter, widely used by countries like Irak, Libya and other comunist and dictatorial regims from South America and Africa.
The Argentinian Air Force has used them in the Flankland's, in 1982, but they loost all the air battles against an aicraft which was built for strategic nuclear strikes and who's pilots were never prepared for air-air combat, the Harrier.
Information about the D'assault Mirage F3
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The Mirage 3 is a single engine delta wing fighter, still used by Irak, Libya and many other countries.
Unfortunately, a dubious lack of the Iraqi Air Force during the 2003 Gulf War meant that there would be no flights of this plane against the US invaders.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Information about the D'assault Mirage 2000
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The Mirage 2000 is a 1980s fighter, an upgrade to all the previous Mirage fighters. Exploiting the already controversed delta-wing to its limits, the Mirage 2000 is another example of french nationalistic politics.
Always wanting to be independent, whatever the cost, D'assault finally produced a worthy fighter. Mirage-2000 fits into the same category with F-15, F-18, F-16 and Su-27.
Unfortunately, today's world global situation, as well as politics and economical pressure made it very difficult for France to sell its fighters to foreign countries. Switzerland however, being "out of range" of US political pressure, bought 80 Mirage-2000 in 2001.
Taiwan also bought 60 Block 15 Mirage-2000A/B's, as deterance against mainland China.
I saw this amazing fighter at RoIAS 2001 Constanta, and I have to admit the negative G turn was really impressive, as well as its entire display.
Information about the D'assault Mirage 2000-5
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The Mirage 2000-5 is an upgraded Mirage 2000, a weapon platform for the MICA TVC air-air short range missile.
Information about the D'assault Mirage 2000N
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The Mirage 2000N is a special upgraded version, ment to perform nuclear strikes.
It's british equivalent is the Harrier, and it's american equivalent is the F111 Aardvark.
Information about the D'assault Mirage 4000
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Mirage 4000 was a prototype jet fighter. It was heavier than the Mirage 2000 and had two Snecma M53-2 turbofans. |
The Mirage 4000 has the highest thrust/weight rate from the EF2000, Su37, Raffale and Gripen fighters, a huge 1.21 to 1.
However it still looks more or less the same as the Mirage-2000.
No orders yet, as far as I know. I think the French gave up the idea of the M-4000 to their new Rafale and Rafale M fighters.