First flight of the Mirage IVA-02

On 12 October 1961, the Mirage IVA-02 made its first flight. It was the first of three prototypes at the production standard for the Mirage IV, a supersonic bomber designed to carry France's first nuclear weapon.

Mirage IV enters nuclear alert

Three years later, on 8 October 1964, the first Mirage IV entered nuclear alert: France had its deterrent force. The decision to equip France with an atomic weapon was made under the Fourth Republic and confirmed by General de Gaulle upon his return to power in 1958.

First nuclear test in Algeria

The first test, Gerboise bleue, took place at Reggane, in the Algerian Sahara, on 13 February 1960. A means was needed to deliver the bomb to Soviet territory. Ballistic missiles would not be ready before the end of the decade; the only realistic short-term vector was an aircraft.

Air Force program for a supersonic bomber

The Air Force launched in 1956 a program for a bomber capable of penetrating enemy defenses at supersonic speed. Dassault, which was completing the Mirage III, proposed an aircraft that reused the design: a delta wing without horizontal tail, but twice as large, and two engines instead of one.

Mirage IV 01 prototype flight

The Mirage IV 01 prototype, approximately the size of an enlarged Mirage III, flew at Melun-Villaroche on 17 June 1959, piloted by Roland Glavany. On 19 September 1960, René Bigand set a world speed record over a 1,000 km closed circuit, averaging more than 1,800 km/h around Paris.

Development of the Mirage IVB and IVA

To reach Moscow and return without landing, Dassault studied a much heavier aircraft, the Mirage IVB, powered by two American Pratt & Whitney J75 engines. Its cost and dependence on a foreign engine manufacturer doomed it. An intermediate version, the Mirage IVA, slightly larger than the prototype, with a wing area of approximately 78 square meters and a takeoff weight of 32 tons, powered by two SNECMA Atar 9 engines, was retained.

In-flight refueling and production order

The insufficient range would be compensated by in-flight refueling: France purchased 12 tanker aircraft from the United States, Boeing C-135F, and the Mirage IVs could also refuel each other using pods. The order for 50 series aircraft was placed on 4 April 1960, before the first pre-series prototype had even flown.

Testing and finalizing the design

The IVA-02, which flew on 12 October 1961, was mainly used for testing the bombing system. It conducted simulated drops at the Colomb-Béchar test center in southern Algeria, where the Air Force had large firing ranges. The IVA-03, which flew on 1 June 1962, received the navigation system and the in-flight refueling probe.

Series production and aircraft design

The IVA-04, which flew on 23 January 1963, was representative of the series. The first series aircraft was completed in December 1963. The Mirage IVA was a two-seat aircraft: the pilot sat in front of the navigator, responsible for radar, navigation, and firing. It could briefly exceed Mach 2 at high altitude, but most of its flight was subsonic to save fuel.

Nuclear capabilities and takeoff systems

The AN-11 bomb, approximately 60 kilotons, was half-embedded under the fuselage. 12 auxiliary rockets allowed for shortened takeoff from dispersed runways. The Strategic Air Forces were created on 14 January 1964. The first squadron, the 1/91 Gascogne Bomber Squadron, received its aircraft at Mont-de-Marsan and entered its first alert on 8 October 1964.

Deployment and strategic considerations

In total, 62 Mirage IVA aircraft were delivered, distributed among nine squadrons on nine different bases, in such a way that a surprise attack could not destroy them all. Permanently, several armed aircraft, with crews in full uniform, waited for the order to take off within 15 minutes.

Evolution of the Mirage IV

The system was transformed from the end of the 1960s, when the surface-to-surface missiles of the Albion Plateau and then the nuclear-armed submarines took over. Facing Soviet defenses, the Mirage IVs learned to penetrate at very low altitude. Starting in 1972, 12 aircraft were equipped with a reconnaissance pod housed in the weapon bay.

Modernization and retirement

To extend the life of the aircraft, 18 Mirage IVA were converted into Mirage IVP, equipped with a new radar, an inertial guidance system, and the nuclear missile ASMP, which could be fired from several tens of kilometers away from the target. The first Mirage IVP flew on 12 October 1982, 21 years and one day after the IVA-02. It entered service on 1 May 1986.

End of nuclear mission and final years

The nuclear mission ended in 1996 when the Mirage 2000N took over the ASMP. The last Mirage IVP, transferred to the 1/91 Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, conducted high-altitude reconnaissance missions over the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan for another nine years. They were retired from service in 2005. The IVA-02 itself, long displayed outdoors at the Bourget Air and Space Museum.