A two-seat Mirage of the New Jersey ANG

Spinners · May 9, 2015

Dassault-Convair F-114B Mirage - 119th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, New Jersey ANG, 1965

During the Spring of 1961 the incoming Secretary of Defence Robert S. McNamara left no stone unturned in his search for efficiencies in procurement and operational costs and his attention soon turned to the Air Defence units of the Air National Guard (ANG). At the time the ANG units were operating a mix of early 1950's jet fighters such as the F-84 and F-86 alongside the hot ships of the 'Century Series' with some fanciful and expensive plans on future re-equipment by advanced versions of the F-106 and, looking further ahead, the F-108. But McNamara soon put these plans in jeopardy by setting his whizz-kids to work on a lower cost solution.

Adoption of the F-4 Phantom II by the USAF was all well and good but this was an expensive beast even when considering 'commonality' and with several hundred aircraft to replace another solution was needed. Envious eyes were soon turned to Europe where two excellent single-engined Mach 2 interceptors were entering service - the Saab Draken and the Mirage III and 'Project Zeus' was an exhaustive study into the operational effectiveness and expected cost-savings of both types measured against re-starting the recently closed F-106A production line. Studies continued through 1961 and early 1962 and, when published in May 1962, 'Project Zeus' revealed that the Mirage IIIC offered the best combination of price and performance. Crucially, it further outlined that only a minimum change version would yield sufficient cost savings as plans to re-engine the Mirage with the J-79 and to introduce the Hughes MA-X radar (essentially a scaled-down version of their MA-1 integrated fire control system as fitted to the F-106A) reduced the gains to zero.

With Convair's hopes of further F-106A production dashed they readily agreed to partner Dassault and licence-produce the Mirage IIIC for the USAF soon designated as the F-114A (single-seat) and F-114B (two-seat trainer). Production commenced in late 1963 and the type entered service in May 1964 with the 119th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the New Jersey ANG. The F-114's served until the early 1980's with most replaced by the F-16A (ADC).