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Soon after General Charles de Gaulle came into office, in
June 1958, he said France was to single-handedly develop what
he called its "dissuasion of aggression" weapon.
The scheme involved an aircraft first, and a ballistic missile
later. In fact, besides the scale effect, the air-friction
heating is very different. The Mirage IV was chosen. Whereas
the Mirage III could only withstand Mach 2 for a few minutes,
the Mirage IV needed to hold that speed for much longer than
the 20 or so minutes required for the temperature to stabilize
throughout the outer structure and inner casings housing the
equipment, petrol and hydraulic liquid. Every component, therefore,
needed to undergo a full thermal assessment. French equipment
manufacturers fulfilled virtually all the requirements.
The bomber's specifications were jointly defined by government
authorities and Dassault staff, and cleared on March 20, 1957.
The Mirage IV 01 looked a lot like the Mirage III A, even
though it had double the surface, engine and unladen weight.
It nevertheless carried three times more internal fuel. Its
aerodynamic features were very similar to the single-jet Mirage
III, but it required a bespoke structure and layout.
The first 50 Mirage IV A ordered were delivered between 1964
and 1966. When the 1st operational bombardment squadron was
established in 1964, the Mirage IV A became Europe's first
military plane able to fly at over Mach 2 for long periods
of time. It still stands alone in that category, 40 years
after it took off for the first time. Of course to be able
to reach Moscow the Mirage IV required inflight refuleing
and the Armee de l'Air also purchased KC-135FR tankers to
support its new strike force
IN the late 1980s the 19 of the Mirage IV force were upgraded
to IVP standard with dual INS, new RWR and compatibility with
the ASMP standoff nuclear missile. In 1996 all but five aircraft
were retired and the remaining aircraft are operated in the
strategice reconnaissance role, the nuclear strike mission
having been turned over to Mirage 2000N squadrons.
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