Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Normal
With the benefit of post-Cold War hindsight, the timescale for the Mirage 4000 would have been far earlier than the Rafale and the range would have been more appropriate to modern expeditionary warfare. It's taken a long time for the Rafale to develop any export orders and the M88 hasn't found any applications beyond the Rafale, although the same could be said of the Eurofighter and EJ200. The Rafale suffered from the same post-Cold War funding delays as the Eurofighter and F22, and the same cost escalation due to the extended timescales. I think that a Mirage 4000 fleet could have fulfilled the same mission as the 2000N and 2000D, albeit with 1/3 fewer airframes purchased due to costs. Beyond that production run, the larger airframe might have given it more credibility than the Mirage 2000 in an export market that was suddenly redefined by the fall of the Soviet union and the unexpected availability of the Su-27. As it turned out, the French made comparable decisions to the Eurofighter member states and the United States, so there really isn't any grounds for particular criticism. Nobody saw the end of the Cold War coming and everyone made the same mistake of delaying fighter programs in a counterproductive bid to save money.
With the benefit of post-Cold War hindsight, the timescale for the Mirage 4000 would have been far earlier than the Rafale and the range would have been more appropriate to modern expeditionary warfare. It's taken a long time for the Rafale to develop any export orders and the M88 hasn't found any applications beyond the Rafale, although the same could be said of the Eurofighter and EJ200. The Rafale suffered from the same post-Cold War funding delays as the Eurofighter and F22, and the same cost escalation due to the extended timescales. I think that a Mirage 4000 fleet could have fulfilled the same mission as the 2000N and 2000D, albeit with 1/3 fewer airframes purchased due to costs. Beyond that production run, the larger airframe might have given it more credibility than the Mirage 2000 in an export market that was suddenly redefined by the fall of the Soviet union and the unexpected availability of the Su-27.
As it turned out, the French made comparable decisions to the Eurofighter member states and the United States, so there really isn't any grounds for particular criticism. Nobody saw the end of the Cold War coming and everyone made the same mistake of delaying fighter programs in a counterproductive bid to save money.
