IAI Kfir

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAI_Kfir

The Israel Aircraft Industries Kfir (Hebrew: ???????, "Lion Cub") is an
Israeli-built all-weather multirole combat aircraft based on the French Dassault
Mirage 5, with Israeli avionics and an Israeli-built version of the General
Electric J79 turbojet engine.

The project that would ultimately give birth to the Kfir can be traced back to
Israel's need for adapting the Dassault Mirage IIIC to the specific requirements
of the Israeli Air Force (IAF).

The all-weather, delta-winged Mirage IIICJ was the first Mach 2 aircraft
acquired by Israel from then-close ally France, and constituted the backbone of
the IAF during most of the 1960s, until the arrival of the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
and, most importantly, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, by the end of the
decade. While the Mirage IIICJ proved to be extremely effective in the
air-superiority role, its relatively short range of action imposed some
limitations on its usefulness as a ground-attack aircraft.

Thus, in the mid-1960s, at the request of Israel, Dassault Aviation began
developing the Mirage 5, a fair-weather, ground-attack version of the Mirage
III. Following the suggestions made by the Israelis, advanced avionics located
behind the cockpit were removed, allowing the aircraft to increase its
fuel-carrying capacity while reducing maintenance costs.

By 1968, Dassault had finished production of the 50 Mirage 5Js paid for by
Israel, but an arms embargo imposed upon Israel by the French government in 1967
prevented deliveries from taking place. The Israelis replied by producing an
unlicensed copy of the Mirage 5, the Nesher, with technical specifications for
both the airframe and the engine obtained by Israeli spies. Some sources claim
Israel received 50 Mirage 5s in crates from French Air Force (AdA), while the
AdA took over the 50 aircraft originally intended for Israel.


Role
Fighter-bomber

National origin
Israel

Manufacturer
Israel Aircraft Industries

First flight
June 1973

Introduction
1976

Status
Active

Primary users
Israeli Air Force (historical)
United States Navy (historical)
Colombian Air Force
Sri Lanka Air Force

Number built
220+

Unit cost

US$4.5 million


Developed from
Dassault Mirage 5
IAI Nesher

Variants
IAI Nammer

The Kfir entered service with the IAF in 1975, the first units being assigned to
the 101st "First Fighter" Squadron. Over the following years, several other
squadrons were also equipped with the new aircraft. The role of the Kfir as the
IAF's primary air superiority asset was short-lived, as the first F-15 Eagle
fighters from the United States were delivered to Israel in 1976.

The Kfir's first recorded combat action took place on November 9, 1977, during
an Israeli air strike on a training camp at Tel Azia, in Lebanon. The only air
victory claimed by a Kfir during its service with the IAF occurred on June 27,
1979 when a Kfir C.2 shot down a Syrian MiG-21.

By the time of the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in 1982 (Operation Peace
for Galilee) the IAF was able to use both its F-15s and F-16s for air
superiority roles, leaving the Kfirs to carry out unescorted strike missions.
Shortly afterwards, all IAF C.2s began to be upgraded to the C.7 version, with
enhanced weight performance, making the Kfir more suitable to its new
fighter-bomber role. During the second half of the 1990s, the Kfirs were
withdrawn from active duty in the IAF, after almost twenty years of continuous
service.

Israel Aerospace Industries announced in August 2013 it will offer pre-owned
Kfir fighter jets to foreign customers, with a 40-year guarantee. Unit price is
reported to be $20 million. A few Eastern European and Latin American countries
have expressed interest, Israel's Globes business daily reported. By October
2013, Israel Aerospace Industries was in "very advanced negotiations" with at
least two air forces interested in the Kfir Block 60. An aircraft can be
delivered within one year, with two squadrons to be sold in two to three years.
The Block 60 is offered with the Elta EL/M-2032 with open architecture avionics
to allow a customer to install other systems. The sensor provides an all-aspect,
look-down/shoot-down performance in air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, with
the capability to simultaneously track up to 64 targets. The J79 has been
overhauled to zero flight hours, and would need replacement after 1,600 hours.

United States

Between 1985 and 1989, the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps
leased 25 examples of the Kfir C.1, which were officially designated F-21A Lion
and modified for use as unarmed adversaries: mock opponents in dissimilar air
combat training (DACT). These aircraft had narrow-span canard foreplanes and two
small rectangular strakes, one on either side of the nose, which considerably
improved the aircraft's maneuverability and handling at low speeds.

The 12 F-21 aircraft leased to the U.S. Navy, painted in a three-tone blue-gray
"ghost" scheme, were operated by Fighter Squadron 43 (VF-43), based at NAS
Oceana, Virginia. In 1988, they were returned and replaced by the F-16N. The 13
aircraft leased to the U.S. Marine Corps were operated by Marine Fighter
Training Squadron 401 (VMFT-401), a 4th Marine Aircraft Wing/ Marine Corps
Reserve squadron at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona. In addition to the
blue-gray painted aircraft, the USMC also had some F-21s painted in Israeli
colors and desert "flogger" schemes (named because they were to represent the
schemes often worn by Warsaw Pact MiG-23 "Floggers"). The Kfir was utilized
because they both shared the common characteristic of being very fast (Mach 2+)
and fast-accelerating aircraft with relatively poor maneuverability.The MiG-23
was targeted as the "enemy" aircraft because at this time the MiG-23 was being
introduced in very large numbers, and was a very capable aircraft compared to
earlier Soviet types. These USMC F-21 aircraft were replaced by F-5E aircraft
when the F-21s were returned in 1989 (although this left the training units
without any aircraft capable of accurately simulating the Mach 2+ and
fast-accelerating MiG-23).

Specifications (Kfir C.2)

General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 15.65 m (51 ft 4¼ in)
Wingspan: 8.22 m (26 ft 11½ in)
Height: 4.55 m (14 ft 11¼ in)
Wing area: 34.8 m² (374.6 sq ft)
Empty weight: 7,285 kg (16,060 lb)
Loaded weight: 11,603 kg (25,580 lb) two 500 L drop tanks, two AAMs
Max. takeoff weight: 16,200 kg (35,715 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × IAl Bedek-built General Electric J-79-J1E turbojet Dry thrust:
52.9 kN (11,890 lb st)
Thrust with afterburner: 79.62 kN (17,900 lb st)


Performance
Maximum speed: 2,440 km/h (2 Mach, 1,317 knots, 1,516 mph) above 11,000 m
(36,000 ft)
Combat radius: 768 km (415 nmi, 477 mi) (ground attack, hi-lo-hi profile, seven
500 lb bombs, two AAMs, two 1,300 L drop tanks)
Service ceiling: 17,680 m (58,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 233 m/s (45,950 ft/min)

Armament

Guns: 2× Rafael-built 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA 553 cannons, 140 rounds/gun
Rockets: assortment of unguided air-to-ground rockets including the Matra JL-100
drop tank/rocket pack, each with 19× SNEB 68 mm rockets and 66 US gallons (250
liters) of fuel
Missiles: 2× AIM-9 Sidewinders or Shafrir or Python-series AAMs; 2× Shrike ARMs;
2× AGM-65 Maverick ASMs
Bombs: 5,775 kg (12,730 lb) of payload on nine external hardpoints, including
bombs such as the Mark 80 series, Paveway series of LGBs, Griffin LGBs, SMKBs,
TAL-1 OR TAL-2 CBUs, BLU-107 Matra Durandal, reconnaissance pods or Drop tanks




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