The Decision to replace the Mirage III in RAAF service

[rickshaw]

The Mirage III replacement

The RAAF began the initial stages of scoping a replacement for its Dassault Mirage III fighters in 1968. The service issued an Air Staff Requirement for new fighter aircraft in December 1971, which received a larger than expected number of proposals from manufacturers. At this time the RAAF expected to start phasing out the Mirage IIIs in 1980. In 1973, a team of RAAF personnel inspected the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, Northrop YF-17, Saab 37 Viggen and Dassault Mirage F1 programs, but recommended that any decisions about a suitable replacement be delayed so that several new fighters that were expected to soon become available could also be considered. In August 1974 the Australian Government decided to defer the fighter replacement project and extend the Mirage IIIs' operational life into the 1980s. One of the four Mirage III-equipped squadrons was also disbanded at this time.

Work on the Mirage replacement program resumed in 1975, and the Tactical Fighter Project Office was established in 1976 to manage the process of selecting the RAAF's next fighter.  A request for proposals was issued in November that year and attracted eleven responses. By March 1977 the office had chosen to focus on the F-15 Eagle, General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, Dassault Mirage 2000 and Panavia Tornado, as well as the McDonnell Douglas F-18A and F-18L; the F-18A was a carrier-based fighter developed from the YF-17 for the United States Navy, and the F-18L was a land-based variant of this design. The Grumman F-14 Tomcat was also considered by the project office, but was regarded as unsuitable and never placed on the official shortlist. In November 1978 the F-15 and Tornado were removed from the list of aircraft being considered. The Tornado was excluded as it was principally a strike aircraft and had limited air-to-air capability. While the F-15 was an impressive aircraft that met or exceeded almost all of the RAAF's requirements, it was believed that the air force did not need a fighter with such advanced capabilities and that introducing it into service could destabilise Australia's region.

Further evaluation of the remaining aircraft took place during 1979. Wing Commander (and later Air Vice-Marshal) Bob Richardson test-flew a Mirage 2000 in April 1979, and reported that while the aircraft had excellent aerodynamic characteristics, its avionics, radar, fuel system, cockpit and weapons capability were inferior to those of US designs. Dassault promised however that as he was flying only a development aircraft, these issues would be addressed in the near future.  It was pointed out that the adoption of the Mirage offered considerable benefits in continuity of supply for the RAAF.

Richardson also test-flew a YF-17 that was being used as a demonstrator for the F-18L in mid-1979, and was impressed by its capabilities. No F-18Ls had been ordered at this time, however, and the RAAF did not want to take on the risk of being the lead customer for the design. At about the same time, the RAAF rejected an offer of F-14 Tomcats that had been originally ordered by the Iranian Government but not delivered as a result of the revolution in that country. While the Tomcats were made available at a greatly reduced price, the air force judged that these aircraft were too large and complex for its requirements.

With the F-14, F-15, Tornado and the F-18L rejected, the RAAF was faced with a choice between the Mirage 2000, F-16 and F-18A. Richardson and several other RAAF pilots tested United States Air Force (USAF) F-16Bs in 1979 and 1980, and reported that the aircraft had excellent performance but could be difficult to control at times. The evaluation team was also concerned about the reliability of the F-16's engine and regarded the aircraft as technologically immature. It was also noted that the aircraft's radar was inferior to that of the F-18A, and that F-16s could not fire the beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missiles and long-range anti-shipping missiles that the F-18A was capable of operating. In contrast, the evaluation team was impressed by the F-18A, and regarded it as being a more robust and survivable aircraft as it had been designed to operate from aircraft carriers; these features were important for operations from bare bases in northern Australia. Richardson and three other RAAF pilots test-flew F-18As, and reported that the aircraft handled well, but had some deficiencies with its flight control system and engines; these were not seen as major flaws by the evaluation team, however. The F-18A's twin engines were considered to be its main advantage over the single-engined F-16 and Mirage 2000, as research conducted by the evaluation team found that the attrition rate for single-engined fighters was twice that for aircraft with two engines. Overall, however, the RAAF judged that the Mirage 2000, F-16 and F-18A were too immature for a decision to be made in 1980 as had been originally planned, and recommended to the Government that this be deferred by a year.

The Government accepted the RAAF's recommendation, and delayed its decision on a Mirage III replacement until late 1981. This gave General Dynamics an opportunity to offer the improved F-16C to the RAAF. The capability of these aircraft was closer to that of the F-18 as they were equipped with BVR missiles. Richardson and another RAAF pilot test-flew F-16Cs in May 1981. The F-18 design was also improved during 1981, and was redesignated the F/A-18. When RAAF test pilots flew these aircraft during 1981, they found that the deficiencies they had detected in 1980 were now addressed. Overall, the RAAF concluded that while both aircraft met its requirements and the F-16 was less expensive, the F/A-18 was the superior design as it was more technologically mature, easier to maintain during operational deployments, and likely to have a much lower attrition rate. 

The Mirage 2000 was therefore considered a rank outsider.  Dassault, anxious to clinch the deal, offered extraordinarily cheap rates.  In addition, he also offered access to the Mirage 4000, a twin-engined, "heavy fighter" version of the Mirage 2000.   He also promised that most of the deficiencies of the developmental Mirage 2000 which Richardson had flown in 1979 had been corrected.  A return visit to Istres in France was arranged.  Richardson and three other RAAF pilots all test flew a production Mirage 2000 and the prototype of the Mirage 4000.   Impressed at the improvements to the Mirage 2000 and the price, he felt he was duty bound to recommend a mix of Mirage 2000s and 4000s to fulfil the RAAF requirements.

The Government accepted this advice, and announced on 20 October 1981 that 75 Mirage 2000s and 25 Mirage 4000s would be ordered. As part of this announcement, Minister for Defence Jim Killen acknowledged that the American fighters would have been more technologically advanced than the French designs but the Dassault offerings were at almost give away prices and could not be refused..

Instead of directly ordering the aircraft from Dassault, the Australian Government purchased its Mirages through the French Government's Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Ordering the aircraft via the French Government allowed the RAAF to take advantage of the superior purchasing power of the French military, and reduced the service's project management requirements. This led to a complicated arrangement whereby the aircraft were ordered by the French Government, delivered to the French Armee de l'air, and then transferred to the RAAF once initial flight testing had taken place.  The process functioned smoothly, however, and was cost effective.













The Models

The models are stock standard.  The Mirage 2000 is an Italeri Mirage 2000C twin seater.  It is painted as being a member of 77 Squadron at the time of it's introduction to service.   The Mirage 4000 is a Mirage 4000A, a member of 75 Squadron at the time of it's deployment to Iraq in 1990 to take part in the First Gulf War.  It has been repainted in the standard RAAF Arid Scheme, flown normally in the "Top End", Northern Australia.   It is by Anigrand.  My first Anigrand kit and it was a pleasure to build and paint.

[NARSES2]

Nice pair Brian  Particularly like the 4000 in that scheme 

Glad your experience with Anigrand was a good one. I've always found them enjoyable kits to build

[dwomby]

Always thought the Mirage 4000 would be a great machine in service.  Terrific job on it and its little brother the 2000.

David

[Thorvic]

Now the really annoying post 

Modelsvit are doing the Mirage 4000 as an injection moulded kit for the French model shop they did the Mirage IIIV kits for.

Nice builds, are you going to do the Tornado and F-16 proposals along with the F-15 which were also in the offing before the Hornet was selected ?

[KiwiZac]

I don't know about him but I did an RAAF Tornado in those grey markings a couple of years ago! Damned if I know where the model went...

Lovely work on both, and the backstory! I've been dreaming on an Aussie 2000 for a while and it's great to see someone tackle it. And an in-service 4000 is always good, regardless of operator.

[rickshaw]

Thank'ee, one and all for your kind words.

Now the really annoying post 

Always has to be one... 

Modelsvit are doing the Mirage 4000 as an injection moulded kit for the French model shop they did the Mirage IIIV kits for.

I will be tempted but I doubt it.  Knowing Modelsvit it will have an excessive number of parts and no locating pins!   

Nice builds, are you going to do the Tornado and F-16 proposals along with the F-15 which were also in the offing before the Hornet was selected ?

I am tempted by the Tornado ADV/IDS and the F-15, F-16 and F-18L but as this was an "in service" version of the Mirage 2000 and 4000, this will have to do.   I had to stretch the story to get the 2000 and 4000 adopted.   The 2000 was originally considered very primitive compared to the American entries.   Aerodynamically very clean but very poor in the cockpit and engine.   

[Dizzyfugu]

The 4K looks huge?! Nice idea for both - I might have switched the liveries, though, with the 2K in the multi purpose role and the 4K as a dedicated interceptor? I like the RAAF idea, though, maybe something I could also do with an Italeri 2K I bought as part of a lot some years ago and which just does not inspire me to anything...

[Thorvic]

Be quite nice to see the F-18 or even better the F-111C in that Dessert scheme 

[Thorvic]

The 4K looks huge?! Nice idea for both - I might have switched the liveries, though, with the 2K in the multi purpose role and the 4K as a dedicated interceptor? I like the RAAF idea, though, maybe something I could also do with an Italeri 2K I bought as part of a lot some years ago and which just does not inspire me to anything...

Yeah the Mirage 2000 is a nice kit but for some reason it just doesn't seem to gel very well into Whiff schemes, the Mirage III and associated types Kfir & Cheetah don't have the same problem I guess its because they look a little sleeker. You could play around with crossing Mirage and Kfir kits to get something that bit different, alternatively you could have the French being more pro-active in helping to rearm the former Warsaw Pact airforce's with western equipment.

[zenrat]

Both look great to me.
I can just picture the 2000 doing the low level flypast and display at the motogp at Phillip Island.
Good jobs.


Reading your words, the MiG 29 almost fits into the timescale.  Joint order with India maybe?

[Snowtrooper]

Reading your words, the MiG 29 almost fits into the timescale.  Joint order with India maybe?

Would the Soviet Union really have sold their latest fighter to a nation such strongly Western-aligned as Australia?

Even in the unlikely case they had, it would still have been a downgraded "export model", to which Australia would probably have wanted to install new radar and avionics suite - bearing in mind that Fulcrum-A had no real multirole capability, it was a point-defence fighter first and foremost, and as such it still would have lacked the necessary range (until MiG-29S/SE/SM Fulcrum-C, which would only have been available a decade later - even as late as 1991, only Fulcrum-A was offered to Finland).

Then again, in the whiffworld everything is possible and viable with the mighty power of handwaving!

[Weaver]

Those look excellent - well done! 

[rickshaw]

Reading your words, the MiG 29 almost fits into the timescale.  Joint order with India maybe?

Would the Soviet Union really have sold their latest fighter to a nation such strongly Western-aligned as Australia?

Even in the unlikely case they had, it would still have been a downgraded "export model", to which Australia would probably have wanted to install new radar and avionics suite - bearing in mind that Fulcrum-A had no real multirole capability, it was a point-defence fighter first and foremost, and as such it still would have lacked the necessary range (until MiG-29S/SE/SM Fulcrum-C, which would only have been available a decade later - even as late as 1991, only Fulcrum-A was offered to Finland).

Then again, in the whiffworld everything is possible and viable with the mighty power of handwaving!

The MiG29 would not have been even looked at, at the period in question.  The RAAF is deeply wedded to the Western ideas on fighter aircraft and in the late 1970s-early 1980s, this was at the height of the Cold War, the MiG29, nor the Su27 was anywhere on the exporters' wishlist.   Malaysia's decision to adopt the MiG29 came as quite a shock to the world when it happened after the end of the Cold War.  It was the first (and AFAIK, only) western nation to look East for its equipment.   There is no way in real life that the RAAF would have adopted a Russian aircraft, even if it was given to them as a gift,

[zenrat]

To some the idea of adopting a French aircraft would have seemed equally shocking.
Mon dieu!

[NARSES2]

The MiG29 would not have been even looked at, at the period in question.  The RAAF is deeply wedded to the Western ideas on fighter aircraft and in the late 1970s-early 1980s, this was at the height of the Cold War, the MiG29, nor the Su27 was anywhere on the exporters' wishlist.   Malaysia's decision to adopt the MiG29 came as quite a shock to the world when it happened after the end of the Cold War.  It was the first (and AFAIK, only) western nation to look East for its equipment.   There is no way in real life that the RAAF would have adopted a Russian aircraft, even if it was given to them as a gift,

Agree totally regarding combat aircraft. I just wonder if they might have considered some of the transport aircraft ?