That was not the prime minister! That was the president Valery Giscard d’Estaing…
The decision date back from 18th December 1975.
18th December 1975
Dassault went to the elysee to talk about the future fighter of the AdA. The ACF program was scrapped, so Dassault proposed two projects.
First was a twin-engine the Mirage 4000. Dassault proposal to giscard : the AdA want two engine to replace the ACF, the 4000 raised much interest in Iraq, so please help me built the 4000 with public funds.
Second project : a single engine fighter, just to replace the Mirage III on foreign markets, the Mirage 2000. This is a private venture…
Eh bien… Giscard proposed the contrary!
Public money and AdA backing for the 2000, and Mirage 4000 for exports markets…
This decision was wise from a financial point of view : the 2000 was less expensive.
From an industrial point of view, this was very stupid.
– AdA really wanted a twin-jet fighter, so the service had the ACX / Rafale in 1983.
– Exports markets needed more a single engine fighter (the 2000) not an expensive twin-jet fighter like the 4000…
When Dassault left the Elysee, he told to a friend
“si l’Irak n’achete pas le 4000, il est foutu!”
“If Iraq don’t buy the 4000, this is the end for this plane”
(foutu is more crude, but I don’t know how to translate it :p )

I agree with you about what you say on the Mirage 4000B. In my “paralel” story, i imagine the Mirage 4000 twin-seater follow the same path that the 2000 (B , N, D)

Yes you’re right. It’s because PD7 imagined it more like a nuclear bomber (Mirage IV) than a two seat fighter. So, the NOSA had no reward view, like the F-111.
I have scanned the ACF and 4000 profiles in le Fana de l’Aviation (July 2004) and managed to “glue” the two seater ACF canopy on a 4000.
It’s cool that the WM forum is on line. When I tried to watch three days ago, virus infected my hard disk 🙁 but it was not severe so no damages… 🙂

Mirage 4000B/D/N

Two-seater Mirage 4000? I have something for you!
Once upon a time in Internet was “the whatif modeler forum”. (Don’t try to find that on google, it had been hacked recently by a ******* bull**** , so virus will infect your computer.)
I registered on this forum and meet a nice guy name Pollux Delta Seven. We talk a bit about Mirage 4000 and this guy had made profile of a two seater Mirage 4000.
This is the two seat nuclear strike Mirage 4000 by Pollux Delta Seven…

I know. apparently it was the most powerful engine in the world at the time… very impressive. The compressor was taken from the Olympus no? Iheard the P.1154 would have been much complicated to maintain than the subsonic Harrier. Apparently it pushed the state of the art (in 1965) a bit too far…
Two non reheated EJ-200 ? this gave 6 tons of thrust per engine no?

Sorry but Ukraine scrapped its Tu-26 because of desarmement treaties. The last plane had been broken up four month ago (there was a thread on this forum about this)
For the Vulcans I think there’s only one in flyable conditions (the one which was flying in meeting some years ago; they are trying to restore it with the Lotery fund)…

Harrier testbed for PCB

Of course T.12 would be the two seater… :p

Just a question : could the good old Harrier become a supersonic fighter?
I mean the PCB (plenum combustion chamber) technology is still waiting its demise (somewhere in a dusty cardboard box in the corner of the closed Kingston plant)
Remember the PCB testbed in the 80’s ? they took the front of a damaged Harrier GR3 and the rear of a damaged T-2, glued these parts together, put PCB on it and hanged this strange thing to a crane.
This was really a strange looking thing because the big PCB were hanging on the side of the (former) aircraft