IAI Kfir
The Lion Cub
“Israel's Mirage, rebuilt with an American engine and canards.”
Israel Aerospace Industries · military
When France embargoed Israel in 1967, Israel obtained the Mirage 5 drawings and built its own. The Kfir took that airframe, fitted the heavier American J79 engine from the Phantom, and added canards on the intakes to keep it agile. The US Navy and Marines flew leased Kfirs as adversary aircraft in the 1980s, and civilian contractor ATAC still flies them against Navy pilots in training. Colombia keeps a fleet on front-line duty.
The US Navy flew 25 leased Kfirs as the F-21A from 1985 to 1989, so an Israeli-built jet trained a generation of American fighter pilots.
A Mirage delta wing with small canards on the intakes and a tail cone that is shorter and fatter than a Mirage's, to fit the J79. ATAC jets fly in grey; Colombian ones in camouflage.
One might be overhead right now.
Bogey turns the The Lion Cub from a dot in the sky into a card in your logbook.
