The VTOL Mirage That Never Was | Dassault Mirage IIIV | Peculiar Prototypes
144The Dassault Mirage IIIV could have been the premier VTOL fighter jet of the Western nations instead of the Hawker-Siddeley Harrier. In August 1961, NATO released the Basic Military Requirement number 3A, which calls for a competition to design and develop a supersonic VTOL fighter jet to replace the aging fleet of FIAT G.91 and Lockheed F-104G Starfighters. Ultimately, two designs showed the most promise out of 8 total submissions, them being: Dassault Aviation with the Mirage IIIV; and Hawker-Siddeley with the P.1154.
The Mirage IIIV would have used 8 turbojet lift engines placed around the intake duct of a single afterburning turbofan. This configuration, however, would impose a severe impact on the aircraft's performance, as the lift engines would be essentially dead weight after take-off and would prove to be a maintenance nightmare. The P.1154 showed superior potential as its single-engine approach was simpler and easier to maintain. However, this project was also canceled due to political imbalance within the British government, giving rise to Hawker-Siddeley’s independently built smaller and slower P.1127, which would eventually become the Harrier, which means...
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