IAI Nesher

what is it?

The Israel Aircraft Industries Nesher (Hebrew: נשר, 'griffon vulture', also translated to 'eagle') is the Israeli version of the French Dassault Mirage 5 multirole fighter. Having sustained moderate aircraft losses during the Six-Day War of 1967 and the War of Attrition fought during the late 1960s, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) sought to procure an improved variant of the highly successful Dassault Mirage III fighter aircraft. While a partnership to produce such an aircraft, the Mirage 5, was formed between French manufacturer Dassault Aviation and Israeli aerospace company Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), during January 1969, in response to the 1968 Israeli raid on Lebanon, the French government announced that it would be imposing an arms embargo on Israel.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 jet engine · 8.2 m wingspan

base stats

• range 1,300 kmwithout refuelling
• size 13.5 tmax take-off weight
• built 61made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 55 years ago, in 1971.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 2 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 1,300 km: 7× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 2.0× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1971

introduced

1972

retired

1977

status

retired

number built

61

role

multirole fighter

origin

🇫🇷 France

makers

Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd

engines

1× SNECMA Atar 9C

crew

1

length

15.7 m

wingspan

8.2 m

height

4.3 m

max take-off weight

13.5 t

top speed

—

range

1,300 km

ceiling

17,680 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family