ATAC has bought 63 former French Air Force Mirage F1s

ATAC HAS BOUGHT 63 MIRAGE F1 FIGHTER JETS

By Dario Leone
Aug 29 2017
Share this article

Between 30 and 45 Mirage F1 fighters will be refurbished to fly again as adversaries against U.S. military aircraft

As it was reported last month by several media outlets American company Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) had bought 63 ex-French Mirage F1 fighters for 21 million euros.

Between 30 and 45 aircraft will be refurbished to fly again as adversaries against U.S. military aircraft.

According to La Tribune, France had to choose to sell its 64 retired Mirage F1 fighter aircraft to one of two U.S. based defense contractors, Draken International or Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC).

Utilizing some of the highest performance aircraft available, both companies provide growing fleets of tactical aircraft and services to the U.S. military, including outsourced airborne tactical air training, threat simulation, and research & development.

As we have already explained the Mirage F1 has been retired by Armée de l’Air (French Air Force) on Jun. 13, 2014.

Developed to replace Mirage IIIC interceptors, the F1 was different from previous Mirages since it featured a conventional swept wing and tail surfaces instead of the familiar delta wing.

Like for the Mirage III, several models of the F1 were eventually developed. The F1A was a ground attack version lacking radar; the F1B was a twin stick operational trainer; the F1C was developed into the F1CT attack version and into the F1CR reconnaissance version; the F1E was a multirole aircraft with air superiority and ground attack capabilities and the F1D was the two seater version based on the F1E.

ATAC has bought 63 Mirage F1s

The last Mirage F1s flown by the Armée de l’Air before the aircraft retirement have been the F1CRs and F1Bs from the reconnaissance unit 2/33 “Savoie” based at Mont-de-Marsan.

Photo credit: Tim Felce (Airwolfhound) and Adrian Pingstone (Arpingstone) (Own work) via Wikipedia


Share this article

Dario Leone

Dario Leone

Dario Leone is an aviation, defense and military writer. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviation Geek Club” one of the world’s most read military aviation blogs. His writing has appeared in The National Interest and other news media. He has reported from Europe and flown Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Share this article


Share this article
Share this article

Always up to date! News and offers delivered directly to you!

Get the best aviation news, stories and features from The Aviation Geek Club in our newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.



    Share this article
    Back to top
    My Agile Privacy
    This website uses technical and profiling cookies. Clicking on "Accept" authorises all profiling cookies. Clicking on "Refuse" or the X will refuse all profiling cookies. By clicking on "Customise" you can select which profiling cookies to activate. We and our selected ad partners can store and/or access information on your device, such as cookies, unique identifiers, browsing data. You can always choose the specific purposes related to profiling by accessing the advertising preferences panel, and you can always withdraw your consent at any time by clicking on "Manage consent" at the bottom of the page.

    List of some possible advertising permissions:

    You can consult: our list of advertising partners, the Cookie Policy and the Privacy Policy.
    Warning: some page functionalities could not work due to your privacy choices