【Military Subplane】Author: Lu Zhi
If you want to know the world's best bomber in the field of bombers, then you can basically only find it from China, Russia and the United States, for example, the largest bomber is the Tu-160, the most expensive is the B2, and the largest is the mainland's H-6. But if you want to talk about the smallest and fastest bomber in the world, I'm afraid many people won't know that this is the Mirage IV bomber that France once equipped.
▲ Image source: Internet
When we introduced the Mirage 4000 fighter jet in our previous article, many readers said that we did not know much about France. In fact, France does have a lot of overseas territories, but compared with the so-called military bases and overseas garrisons of the United States, it is not at the same level at all, and it is not even qualified to compare, and the US bases in Japan and South Korea are to deal with high-level wars in the Pacific, and France can just fight guerrillas. During the operation in Mali, France had to turn to Russia for help because of the problem of transport planes, and leased Russian An-124 transport planes to transport supplies. Therefore, whether it is the era of the development of the Mirage 4000 or the current era, France does not need combat aircraft with a particularly long range, excessive weight and size. Compared with South Korea, Japan, and India, the real advantages of France and Britain lie in their status as the P5 and their nuclear weapons, and their conventional forces are even inferior to those of these countries, especially Japan.
▲ Image source: Internet
It is precisely because of this that when France developed the bomber, it made it clear that it did not need a bomber that was too large in size and weight, and that it could not be on par with the bombers of the United States and the Soviet Union. So at this time, we have to give a counterexample, that is, Britain, Britain always thinks that the sun never sets on an empire, so during the Cold War developed the so-called 3V bomber, the basic performance is relatively close to the mainland's H-6 bomber. But this 3V bomber is the result of Britain's blind self-confidence, and for Britain and France, ordinary fighters with tankers are absolutely sufficient.
▲ Image source: Internet
In the mid-to-late 50s of the last century, France decided to develop a bomber that could carry air-launched nuclear weapons, and the famous Southern Aircraft Company and Dassault competed for this project. In the end, the French Air Force chose Dassault's scheme, which was later born as Mirage IV. The birth process of the Mirage IV is relatively close to that of the later Mirage 2000, the Mirage 4000 is based on the Mirage 2000 for amplification, and the Mirage IV is based on the Mirage 3 fighter jet for amplification. So in essence, the Mirage IV can only be regarded as a fighter-bomber in the eyes of China, the United States and Russia, and even inferior to the F111 fighter-bomber used by the United States in some parts of the era.
▲ Image source: Internet
The Mirage IV adopts a large delta wing layout derived from the Mirage 3, and the overall appearance is very powerful, and the sharp shape can be seen at a glance that it is an aircraft that emphasizes high-speed flight. The length of the whole aircraft is 23.49 meters, the wingspan is 11.85 meters, the height is 5.4 meters, the wing area is 78 square meters, the empty weight is 14.5 tons, and the maximum take-off weight is 33.5 tons, these basic data are far behind the F111 fighter-bomber used by the United States in that era. The engines are two Atta 9K turbojet engines, with a maximum thrust of only 46.1 kN and afterburner thrust of only 68.6 kN, which is not at all the opponent of twin-engine heavy fighters. But fortunately, the overall aerodynamic layout of the aircraft emphasizes high-speed flight, and the weight is not large, so the maximum flight speed can reach Mach 2.2 at an altitude of 11,000 meters. This number is the fastest of all the bombers today, and even in the era when the Mirage IV was finally retired, the only bomber that could compare with him was the Tu-160, but it still did not reach Mach 2.2.
▲ Image source: Internet
As a so-called bomber of the fighter-bomber class, the basic data of the Mirage IV, as well as the bomb load, are mediocre. In the early days, a nuclear bomb with a yield of 50,000 tons was used, of course, several conventional bombs could also be used, and later it was equipped with air-to-surface missiles and even nuclear warheads. Despite its limited range, the Mirage IV bomber could be refueled in the air, which greatly extended its range. By the late 90s, the Mirage 2000 fighter had been able to meet the needs of France, and the Rafale fighter had developed very well at that time, and the aging Mirage IV bomber was about to be retired.
Britain and France basically retired all their bombers in the 90s, mainly relying on multi-role fighters or attack aircraft to carry out ground attack missions, and bombers have gradually become the exclusive weapons of powerful countries. Today, the world's entry bomber is the mainland's H-6, which is said to have a maximum take-off weight of more than 90 tons and a bomb load of 12 to 15 tons. The H-6 can carry a large number of missiles and long-range air-launched weapons, which are the weaknesses of the Mirage IV.
▲ Image source: Internet