🇦🇷 Why did the Argentine Mirage III fighter operate for 25 years while obsolete? 🤦🏻
Video from the channel Victor Defensa about Dassault Mirage III, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 5:32. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
Analysis and opinion piece arguing that the Argentine Air Force's Mirage III remained in service for about 25 years after it had already become tactically outdated. It reviews its advantages and limitations, comparing it with the British Tornado.
Historical context
The video recalls several facts about the family:
- 1,422 aircraft were built, including derivatives such as the Nesher and the Kfir; - it fought with Israel in 1967; - Argentina flew it on 54 missions during the Falklands War.
According to the author, by the 1990s its 1960s-and-70s technology was already obsolete, yet it remained the main fighter until 2015. He attributes the lack of modernisation to political decisions.
Key facts
As advantages, the video cites the maximum speed of 2,350 km/h given by the Atar 9C engine and a relatively low cost per flight hour. As drawbacks, it lists:
- a Cyrano radar with a range of about 50 km; - the lack of countermeasures and radar warning; - Shafrir 2, Magic and R.530 missiles with poor performance; - the lack of an in-flight refuelling probe, which in the Falklands limited its time over the islands to about five minutes.
The Mirage's farewell was held on 29 November 2015 at the VI Air Brigade in Tandil, after 43 years of service and 131,000 flight hours.