Armee de l'Air Mirage 4In the mid-1950s, the French decided to develop a nuclear deterrent force, which led to a need for a strategic bomber. As a interim measure, they simply built a scaled-up version of the Mirage III fighter, known as the "Mirage IV", with the expectation that it would be soon replaced by a more capable aircraft. It is said that there is nothing so permanent as a temporary solution, and the Mirage IV was still flying in combat at the end of the century, if admittedly in small numbers and as a spy plane, not a bomber.
Picture added on 08 June 2006
Added by Lambert Arnaud on 10 February 2011.