In a footnote, he mentions that the Spey-engined Mirage IIIK was proposed to the RAF as a Hunter replacement in 1964, "with the full backing of Rolls Royce": sounds to me like another round of RR's anything-to-undermine-the-Harrier campaign to me... :rolleyes: He confirms that the Spey-Mirage did NOT need a larger fuselage, since the Spey had a smaller diameter than both the Atar and the Avon, although he doesn't mention the issues of air intake mass-flow and rear fuselage cooling. The latter was the reason for the Kfir's enlarged rear fuselage BTW: the J-79 is actually narrower than the Atar. With the Spey being a turbofan, I'd imagine that the duct wall temperature between the core and the afterburner would be lower than the J-79, although it might well have needed a Kfir-style fintake for afterburner cooling.
--- Quote from: Geoff on July 13, 2008, 04:19:54 am ---The other potential Wifs for the Mirage III was the proposed Boeing/Dasault Mirage III/ F-5 in competition with the Northrop Freedom Fighter.