IAI Nesher
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The Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Nesher is an Israeli-built multi-role fighter aircraft based on the French Dassault Mirage V. Most were sold to the Argentine Air Force and renamed Dagger and now Finger.
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Development
Dassault had developed the Mirage V at the request of the Israelis, who were the main foreign customers of the Mirage III. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) wanted the next version to have less all-weather capability in exchange for improved ordnance carrying capacity and range as the weather in the Middle East is mostly clear.
The French government arms embargo on Israel (on the eve of the Six Day War and afterwards) prevented the first 50 Mirage 5 aircraft (which were already paid for by Israel) from being delivered and cut off support for the existing Mirage IIICJ fleet. The Israelis simply proceeded to produce a copy of the Mirage 5 themselves without a license, using manufacturing specs obtained by Israeli intelligence.
The Nesher ("Eagle") was a complete copy of the Mirage 5, except for the use of some Israeli avionics, a Martin-Baker zero-zero ejector seat, and provisions for a wider range of air-to-air missiles, including the Israeli Shafrir heat-seeking missile.
51 Nesher fighters and 10 Nesher two-seat trainers were built in all.
Nesher production was terminated to make way for an improved Mirage derivative that had been in planning in parallel, in which the Atar engine was to be replaced with an Israeli-built General Electric J79 engine, the same engine used on the American F-104 Starfighter and F-4 Phantom II fighters. The result would be the IAI Kfir.
Service
The first Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Nesher prototype flew in September 1969, with production deliveries to the IAF beginning in 1972. These aircraft performed well during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, claiming over a hundred kills.
As mentioned earlier, survivors of these aircraft were refurbished and exported to Argentina in 2 batches, 26 in 1978 and 13 in 1980, under the name "Dagger", comprising 35 "Dagger A" single-seat fighters and 4 "Dagger B" two-seat trainers.
They form a new unit, 6th Air Group, and they were immediately listed with the help of the 8th Air Group (Mirage IIIEA) and the Peruvian Air Force due the escalating crisis with Chile of that year.
During the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas War, they were deployed to the southern naval airbase of Rio Grande in Tierra del Fuego and an airfield in Puerto San Julián from where they made 153 sorties against the British on the 45 days of operations. Eleven Daggers were shot down by Sea Harriers and/or Surface-to-air missiles.
After the war, Argentine Air Force Daggers where upgraded with new avionics systems in a 3 steps program that took them to the Finger IIIA standard.
Operators
- Argentina, Israel.
Related content
Template:Aircontentde:I.A.I. Nesher he:נשר (מטוס קרב) ja:ネシェル (航空機)