A Political Mirage

One of the low points of the Cold War for the West was the Suez Crisis of October 1956, the joint British-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower vigorously opposed the invasion and forced the U.S. allies into a humiliating withdrawal.

This action by the U.S. had far reaching effects. In France, it rekindled suspicions about the dangers of relying on allies for support. Specifically, it prompted France to look more closely at its relationship with the U.S., especially the question of whether the U.S. was really committed to the nuclear defense of Europe.

Unlike Great Britain, which had its “V Bomber” force nuclear delivery bombers (though until 1965 U.S. personnel controlled the nuclear weapons), France had no semblance of a nuclear deterrent, so the French government committed to building and testing its own nuclear weapon and developing a bomber to deliver it.

In 1958, Gen. Charles de Gaulle became president and was an enthusiastic backer of both programs as an independent French “Force de Dissuassion” (dissuasion of aggression), quickly known as the “Force de frappe” (strike force).

In 1959, France successfully tested its first nuclear weapon in the Algerian desert, while the French government worked with Dassault Aviation, builder of the Mirage III fighter, to develop a Mach 2 nuclear bomber from the Mirage III.

The bomber, the Mirage IVA, had the same basic delta wing configuration as the III but had twin engines and was half as large, weighed twice as much, and carried three times more internal fuel and a crew of two. It had a take-off weight of 32 tons and a range of 600 nautical miles, half of it at supersonic speed.

The Snecma Atar 9 B jet engines were identical to those of the Mirage III with 13,200 pounds of thrust with afterburning, and it had provision for in-flight refueling. The nuclear gravity bomb, a 60 kiloton AN-11 or AN-22, was carried semi-externally in a fuselage recess under the engines. On May 5, 1959, three pre-production Mirage IVs were ordered.

The first of them, the Mirage IV 01, first flew on June 17, 1959, and was built to explore the problems of sustained Mach 2 supersonic flight. Its third flight, on June 20, 1959, was over the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport in front of President de Gaulle. The 01 exceeded Mach 2 on its 33rd flight, and on Sept. 15, 1960, it set a world record for a 1,000 kilometer closed circuit with an average speed of 1,130.9 mph. On Sept. 23, 1960, it set a record for the 500 kilometer closed circuit of 1,225 mph.

The tests resulted in an initial order of 50 production Mirage IVAs, the first flown in December 1963, and the order was followed by a second order of 12 capable of carrying a reconnaissance pod, all built between December 1963 and November 1966.

In October 1964, the first bomber squadron was declared operational, and France became a genuine nuclear power. By 1966, the Force de frappe was at full strength with three wings, each divided into three squadrons with four Mirage IVs, and located at different bases to minimize the potential for an enemy strike to knock out the entire bomber force.

Each squadron maintained at least one aircraft on five minute alert. The primary targets were major Soviet cities and, with aerial refueling, the Mirages could theoretically reach Moscow, Murmansk or Ukrainian cities from French bases and return. But, in fact, some of the mission profiles were one-way.

 Initially, the basic attack flight profile was “high-high-high” with an attack speed of Mach 1.85. In response to the surface to air missile threat in the late 1960s, the Mirage IVA was modified for low-altitude penetration, though at low altitude the maximum attack speed was reduced to 680 mph and the combat radius was seriously decreased.
By the 1970s, it was clear that vulnerability of the Mirage IV to air defenses, even in low-level flight, made the delivery of gravity nuclear bombs impractical. One wing of Mirage IVs stood down in 1976 as the French commenced development of the ASMP stand-off missile, with a range of 250 miles.

Eighteen Mirage IVAs were modified to carry the new weapon or a reconnaissance pod on the centerline and received the new designation Mirage IVP (Penetration) and entered service on May 1, 1986, with two squadrons, six bombers per squadron.

But by this time, the French nuclear deterrent was built around missile firing submarines and the Mirage IVs were redesignated “Escadron de Reconnaissance Stratégique,” (Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons).

It was in this role the Mirage IVPs saw combat service over Bosnia, Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan in the reconnaissance role before they were retired in 2005.
(For questions or comments, contact Dr. Michel at marshall.michel@ramstein.af.mil.)