List of Dassault Mirage III operators

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008)

Map of Mirage III/V operators

This is a list of Dassault Mirage IIIs, Mirage 5s, and Mirage 50s used by national air forces.

This should be regarded as an approximate list, as guaranteeing these numbers would be a major and difficult task. The key "1S" indicates a single-seat Mirage fighter, while "2S" indicates a two-seat Mirage, and "PR" indicates a photoreconnaissance machine.

Contents

Operators

Abu Dhabi · Argentina · Australia · Belgium · Brazil · Chile · Colombia · Egypt · France · Gabon · Israel · Lebanon · Libya · Pakistan · Peru · South Africa · Spanish State · Switzerland · Venezuela · Zaire

References · Related content

Operators

Abu Dhabi

1S: 12 5AD + 5 EAD
2S: 3 5DAD
PR: 5 RAD
Out of Service

Argentina

Argentine Air Force^[1]

1S: 19 IIICJ + 17 IIIEA
2S: 3 IIIBJ + 4 IIIDA
Plus 35 IAI 1S Dagger-A + 4 IAI 2S Dagger-B. Survivors locally updated to Finger Standard.
Plus 10 5P. Survivors (9) locally updated to Mara Standard.
IIICJs & IIIBJs were ex-Israeli, 5Ps were ex-Peruvian.

Australia

A left side view of a Mirage III D (top) and Mirage III E aircraft in flight during a combined US-Australian Air Force exercise, Pacific Consort, 1980

Royal Australian Air Force - No.3 Squadron, No.75 Squadron, No.76 Squadron, No.77 Squadron, No.79 Squadron and No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit

1S: 49 IIIO(F) + 51 IIIO(A)
2S: 16 IIID
Most built locally, all now sold to Pakistan.

Belgium

Belgian Air Force

1S: 63 5BA
2S: 16 5BD
PR: 27 5BR
Minor upgrade performed on survivors in early 1990s, but all were then retired. Some transferred to Chile as Elkans.

Brazil

Brazilian Air Force

1S: 16 IIIEBR + 4 IIIEBR-2
2S: 6 IIIDBR + 2 IIIDBR-2
2 IIIDBR, all IIDBR-2 & IIIEBR-2 were ex-AdA.
Many assembled locally. Survivors upgraded with canards and so on in early 1990s. Last one retired in 2005

Chile

Chilean Air Force

1S: 6 50C + 8 50FC + 19 Elkans
2S: 3 50DC + 6 Elkans
50FC were upgraded by Dassault from AdA 5Fs and then updated by Enaer to Pantera standard. Elkans are ex Belgium Mirage 5.
Some ex South Africa Cheetahs as spares.

Colombia

Colombian Air Force

1S: 14 5COA Converted to 5COAM
2S: 2 5COD converted to 5CODM
PR: 2 5COR Converted to 5COAM
Most Colombian Mirages upgraded in early 1990s to improved Kfir standard.

Egypt

Egyptian Air Force

1S: 54 5SDE + 16 5E2
2S: 6 5SDD
PR: 6 5SDR

France

French Mirage IIIR

French Air Force

1S: 95 IIIC + 183 IIIE + 58 5F
2S: 27 IIIB + 5 IIIB1 + 10 IIIB2(RV) + 20 IIIBE
PR: 50 IIIR + 20 IIIRD

All aircraft retired.

Gabon

Gabon Air Force

1S: 3 5G + 2 5G-2
2S: 4 5DG
Two surviving 5Gs were updated to 5G-2 spec.
Aircraft withdrawn from use.

Israel

A Mirage III in the Israeli Air Force Museum

Israeli Air Force

1S: 72 IIICJ
2S: 5 IIIBJ
IAI built 61 Nesher / Daggers, with 51 single-seaters and 10 two-seat Nesher-Ts; and 212 Kfirs, with 40 early Kfir-1s (many updated to Kfir-C1 spec), about 12 Kifr-TC2 trainers, and the rest Kfir-C2s. Confusing pattern of upgrades to Kfir-C7 and Kfir-TC7.
2 Mirage IIIRJ photo reconnaissance aircraft
All aircraft converted to Kfirs or withdrawn from use.

Lebanon

Lebanese Air Force

1S: 10 IIIEL
2S: 2 IIIDL
9 IIIEL and 1 IIIDL sold to Pakistan 1999/2000.

Libya

Libyan Air Force

1S: 53 5D + 32 5DE
2S: 15 5DD
PR: 10 5DR
Most of them sold to Pakistan.

Pakistan

Pakistan Air Force

The Pakistan Air Force is the largest operator of Mirage III aircraft. Mainly of French origin, Pakistan's Mirage fleet consists of recent purchases from Libya. With the assistance of France, PAF has upgraded its Mirage III fleet through ROSE I, II, and just recently, III project. Mostly, these ROSE Upgrade give the aircraft better ground attack capabilities. Recently, however, Pakistan Air Force has started considerating various options in order to replace its ageing Mirage fleet, with JF-17 (a joint production between Pakistan and China) and US made F-16 fighter jets as the top contenders for the Mirage replacementt. It is uncertain how long PAF will use this old war horse, though. During the mid 90s PAF also showed interest in buying the Mirage 2000 fighter planes because of unavailability of F-16s due to the Pressler amendment. The plan was shelved due the high cost of the aircraft.

1S: 18 IIIEP + 43 III(0) + 28 5PA + 28 5PA2 + 12 5PA3
2S: 5 IIIDP + 7 IIID + 2 5DPA2
PR: 13 IIIRP
The III(0) and IIIDs were Australian-made and locally refurbished.
Note: At the moment Pakistan is the largest operator of Mirage III aircraft with 156.

Peru

Peruvian Air Force

1S: 22 5P + 10 5P3 + 2 5P4
2S: 4 5DP + 2 5DP3
10 5P transferred to Argentina and rest upgraded.

South Africa

South African Air Force Mirage IIICZ

South African Air Force

1S: 16 IIICZ + 17 IIIEZ
2S: 3 IIIBZ + 3 IIIDZ + 11 IIID2Z
PR: 4 IIIRZ + 4 IIIR2Z
All out of service, some having been upgraded to Cheetah standard. There were about 16 Cheetah E conversions (all out of service); 38 Cheetah C conversions; 16 Cheetah D conversions; and one Cheetah R conversion (scrapped).
Some Cheetahs were sold to Chile for use as spare parts for Panteras.