The Mirage 4000: The Best Fighter France Never Built

The Dassault Mirage 4000 was France’s ambitious attempt to build a heavyweight fighter capable of competing with aircraft such as the American F-15. Developed alongside the smaller Mirage 2000, the twin-engine Mirage 4000 was designed as a long-range interceptor and strike fighter. Unlike many major military programs of the era, Dassault largely financed the project itself, betting that foreign buyers would eventually turn the prototype into a production aircraft.