Israel Aircraft Industries F-21A Kfir
While the Mirage IIICJ in Israeli Air Force (Heyl Ha’avir) service had proven the Mirage to be a superb fighter, it was not really designed as a ground-attack aircraft, though Israel had often been forced into using it as such. As a result, Israel commissioned Dassault Aircraft of France to design a clear-weather variant of the Mirage III, designed to have better ground-attack capability and range than the CJ fighter-interceptor. This new version was designated the Mirage 5J by Dassault, but following the Six-Day War, President Charles de Gaulle, attempting to improve Franco-Arab relations, embargoed the Mirage 5J, which went into French Armee de l’Air service instead. Israel was later able to covertly acquire plans for the Mirage 5 from Dassault, as well as a number of Atar 9C engines, and built their own version of the Mirage 5J, improving on the design slightly as the Nesher (Dagger).
Though the Nesher performed superbly in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, it retained the problems of the Atar 9-powered Mirage series: a tendency towards compressor stalls in high angles of attack and lack of power compared to other aircraft. Israel Aircraft Industries had already begun research into adapting the Mirage to carry the far more powerful American General Electric J79 turbojet, which powered the F-4 Phantom IIs in Israeli service. The J79 had more than enough power, but also needed much more airflow than the Atar 9, and operated at much hotter temperatures. Using a two-seat Mirage IIIBJ as a test bed, the rear fuselage had to be widened, air scoops added to the rear fuselage and at the base of the tail, and a titanium casing built for the J79. This proved to be successful, and a second conversion of a Nesher resulted in the prototype Kfir (Lion Cub), which first flew in June 1973. Production of the Kfir C.1 would not begin until after the Yom Kippur War; while it would enter service in 1974, its existence was not publicly revealed until a year later.
While the Kfir C.1 was adequate, the power of the J79 was such that, at high speeds, the aircraft was difficult to control, with a tendency to both “snake” through the sky in uncontrollable turns, and to provide too much power to the pilot. It also lacked radar, though early Kfirs had their noses painted black to fool observers into thinking it did. IAI embarked on a program to cure this problem, which resulted in the Kfir C.2. This changed the appearance of the Kfir completely by adding large canards to the intakes, strakes on the slightly longer nose, and more cooling intakes. This cured not only the tendency towards loss of control at high speeds, it also lowered the Kfir’s landing speeds and made it more maneuverable at low speed. The leading edge of the wing was altered to a “sawtooth” design, which also improved performance. As radars became smaller, a ranging radar for attack missions was added as well. While the Kfir was not the first aircraft to use the canard/delta combination (the Saab Viggen had entered service just before the Kfir C.2), the use of this combination would be subsequently adopted by several Mirage III/5 users for the same reasons, namely by South Africa, who converted a number of their Mirage IIIs to essentially Kfir clones as the Cheetah.
The Kfir C.2, and its upgraded successor the C.7, would see action beginning in 1977 and culminating in the Lebanon War of 1982, in various airstrikes first against terrorist targets in Lebanon and Syria, and then against Syrian forces directly. Though the Kfir was a good fighter, it was used mainly in the ground attack role, as Israel’s F-15 Eagles were much better suited for air superiority missions. Israel retired its Kfirs by 1996 in favor of F-16C Fighting Falcons, offering surplus aircraft on the open market. Since sale of Kfirs also needed US approval (as the Kfir uses an American engine), foreign sales have been limited to Colombia, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka; Colombia has upgraded its aircraft to C.10 standard, with a full multimode radar, making the Kfir a truly multirole fighter. At least 220 Kfirs were built.
The Malmstrom Museum retains a Kfir in its model collection, a F-21. In 1985, the US Navy and Marine Corps leased 12 Kfir C.1s from storage in Israel for use as aggressor dissimilar training aircraft; it was felt that the F-21 better simulated the Soviet MiG-23 Flogger than the Navy’s other aggressor aircraft, the F-5E Tiger II. These aircraft were slightly upgraded by adding small intake strakes, which mitigated the control problems of the C.1. Another batch of 13 Kfirs were added by the Marines in 1987. These were designated F-21A Kfir in American service. F-21s served in the Top Gun program as aggressors until 1989, when the Navy replaced them with the F-16N, while the Marines returned to F-5Es. All surviving F-21s were returned to Israel in 1989, where most were scrapped. A private firm today flies ex-Israeli Kfir C.7s on government contract as aggressors.
This aircraft, serving with VF-43 at NAS Oceana, carries a three-tone gray camouflage; USN and USMC F-21s were painted in several different color schemes. This aircraft was returned to Israel in 1988; only a few F-21s are known to survive, either in storage in Israel or in museums.
Israel Aircraft Industries F-21A Kfir
While the Mirage IIICJ in Israeli Air Force (Heyl Ha’avir) service had proven the Mirage to be a superb fighter, it was not really designed as a ground-attack aircraft, though Israel had often been forced into using it as such. As a result, Israel commissioned Dassault Aircraft of France to design a clear-weather variant of the Mirage III, designed to have better ground-attack capability and range than the CJ fighter-interceptor. This new version was designated the Mirage 5J by Dassault, but following the Six-Day War, President Charles de Gaulle, attempting to improve Franco-Arab relations, embargoed the Mirage 5J, which went into French Armee de l’Air service instead. Israel was later able to covertly acquire plans for the Mirage 5 from Dassault, as well as a number of Atar 9C engines, and built their own version of the Mirage 5J, improving on the design slightly as the Nesher (Dagger).
Though the Nesher performed superbly in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, it retained the problems of the Atar 9-powered Mirage series: a tendency towards compressor stalls in high angles of attack and lack of power compared to other aircraft. Israel Aircraft Industries had already begun research into adapting the Mirage to carry the far more powerful American General Electric J79 turbojet, which powered the F-4 Phantom IIs in Israeli service. The J79 had more than enough power, but also needed much more airflow than the Atar 9, and operated at much hotter temperatures. Using a two-seat Mirage IIIBJ as a test bed, the rear fuselage had to be widened, air scoops added to the rear fuselage and at the base of the tail, and a titanium casing built for the J79. This proved to be successful, and a second conversion of a Nesher resulted in the prototype Kfir (Lion Cub), which first flew in June 1973. Production of the Kfir C.1 would not begin until after the Yom Kippur War; while it would enter service in 1974, its existence was not publicly revealed until a year later.
While the Kfir C.1 was adequate, the power of the J79 was such that, at high speeds, the aircraft was difficult to control, with a tendency to both “snake” through the sky in uncontrollable turns, and to provide too much power to the pilot. It also lacked radar, though early Kfirs had their noses painted black to fool observers into thinking it did. IAI embarked on a program to cure this problem, which resulted in the Kfir C.2. This changed the appearance of the Kfir completely by adding large canards to the intakes, strakes on the slightly longer nose, and more cooling intakes. This cured not only the tendency towards loss of control at high speeds, it also lowered the Kfir’s landing speeds and made it more maneuverable at low speed. The leading edge of the wing was altered to a “sawtooth” design, which also improved performance. As radars became smaller, a ranging radar for attack missions was added as well. While the Kfir was not the first aircraft to use the canard/delta combination (the Saab Viggen had entered service just before the Kfir C.2), the use of this combination would be subsequently adopted by several Mirage III/5 users for the same reasons, namely by South Africa, who converted a number of their Mirage IIIs to essentially Kfir clones as the Cheetah.
The Kfir C.2, and its upgraded successor the C.7, would see action beginning in 1977 and culminating in the Lebanon War of 1982, in various airstrikes first against terrorist targets in Lebanon and Syria, and then against Syrian forces directly. Though the Kfir was a good fighter, it was used mainly in the ground attack role, as Israel’s F-15 Eagles were much better suited for air superiority missions. Israel retired its Kfirs by 1996 in favor of F-16C Fighting Falcons, offering surplus aircraft on the open market. Since sale of Kfirs also needed US approval (as the Kfir uses an American engine), foreign sales have been limited to Colombia, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka; Colombia has upgraded its aircraft to C.10 standard, with a full multimode radar, making the Kfir a truly multirole fighter. At least 220 Kfirs were built.
The Malmstrom Museum retains a Kfir in its model collection, a F-21. In 1985, the US Navy and Marine Corps leased 12 Kfir C.1s from storage in Israel for use as aggressor dissimilar training aircraft; it was felt that the F-21 better simulated the Soviet MiG-23 Flogger than the Navy’s other aggressor aircraft, the F-5E Tiger II. These aircraft were slightly upgraded by adding small intake strakes, which mitigated the control problems of the C.1. Another batch of 13 Kfirs were added by the Marines in 1987. These were designated F-21A Kfir in American service. F-21s served in the Top Gun program as aggressors until 1989, when the Navy replaced them with the F-16N, while the Marines returned to F-5Es. All surviving F-21s were returned to Israel in 1989, where most were scrapped. A private firm today flies ex-Israeli Kfir C.7s on government contract as aggressors.
This aircraft, serving with VF-43 at NAS Oceana, carries a three-tone gray camouflage; USN and USMC F-21s were painted in several different color schemes. This aircraft was returned to Israel in 1988; only a few F-21s are known to survive, either in storage in Israel or in museums.