more videos at: freeaviation.freeforums.org The Mirage 2000 is a French-built multirole fighter jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation. Designed in the late seventies as a lightweight fighter for the Armée de l’Air, it evolved into a successful multirole aircraft now in service in 9 countries with more than 600 airplanes built. Avion de Combat Futur (ACF) was developed for the French Air Force in the early 1970s. After the ACF was canceled on 18 December 1975 due to its growing cost and complexity, Dassault offered the Mirage 2000 as an alternative. This was a return to the first generation Mirages, but with several important innovations that tried to solve their shortcomings. Project chiefs were BC Valliéres, J.Cabrière, JC Veber and B.Revellin-Falcoz[1]. Development of this small aircraft would also give the company a competitor to the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, which had defeated the Dassault Mirage F1 in a contest for a new fighter for the air forces of Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands and Norway. Small single-engined fighters were clearly the most appreciated by foreign customers, as experience with the larger, twin-engined Mirage 4000 would show. The prototype made its first flight in March 10, 1978 with test pilot Jean Coreau at the controls. Despite the new technologies applied, basing the new aircraft on the Mirage III allowed the development of a flyable prototype in only 27 months from the program start to the first flight, even if active service status …