1/72 Dassault Mirage G8.01

Anigrand Craftswork - 1/72 Dassault Mirage G8.01 French nuclear-armed swing wing fighter. In 1964, the French defense ministry requested a development program on variable-sweep wing aircraft for dual land and aircraft carrier use. An order for an experimental prototype was placed to Dassault in 1965. Dassault emerged the variable-sweep aircraft as the two-seat Mirage G4 fighter in 1967, essentially a swept wing version of the Mirage F.2. While the aircraft were under construction the requirements changed and the French military requested that the design be converted into a dedicated interceptor. Mirage G4 was redesignated G8-01. The two-seat aircraft made its first flight in 1971 with the second aircraft, G8-02 becoming a single-seat version, that first flight in 1972. The G8 variants were equipped with Thomson-CSF radar and a low-altitude navigational-attack system based on that used in the Dassault Milan. As no funding was included for the Mirage G8 in the 1971-1976 French defense budget, the aircraft did not enter production.