IAI Kfir

Multirole combat aircraft

The Israel Aircraft Industries Kfir (Hebrew: כְּפִיר‎, "Lion Cub") is an Israeli-built all-weather, multirole combat aircraft based on a modified French Dassault Mirage 5 airframe, with Israeli avionics and an Israeli-built version of the General Electric J79 turbojet engine.

Role	Fighter-bomber
National origin	Israel
Manufacturer	Israel Aircraft Industries
First flight	June 1973
Introduction	1976
Status	Active
Primary users	Israeli Air Force (historical) United States Navy (historical) Colombian Air Force Sri Lanka Air Force
Number built	220+
Unit cost	US$4.5 million
Developed from	IAI Nesher
Variants	IAI Nammer

Specifications (Kfir C.2)[edit]

An IAI Kfir with its typical weapon loadout as displayed at the Israeli Air Force Museum, Hatzerim Airbase

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982–83.^[34]

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 15.65 m (51 ft 4¼ in)
• Wingspan: 8.22 m (26 ft 11½ in)
• Height: 4.55 m (14 ft 11¼ in)
• Wing area: 34.8 m² (374.6 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 7,285 kg (16,060 lb)
• Loaded weight: 11,603 kg (25,580 lb) two 500 L drop tanks, two AAMs
• Max. takeoff weight: 16,200 kg (35,715 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × IAl Bedek-built General Electric J-79-J1E turbojet
  • Dry thrust: 52.9 kN (11,890 lb st)
  • Thrust with afterburner: 79.62 kN (17,900 lb st)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 2,440 km/h (2 Mach, 1,317 knots, 1,516 mph) above 11,000 m (36,000 ft)
• Combat radius: 768 km (415 nmi, 477 mi) (ground attack, hi-lo-hi profile, seven 500 lb bombs, two AAMs, two 1,300 L drop tanks)
• Service ceiling: 17,680 m (58,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 233 m/s (45,950 ft/min)

Armament

• Guns: 2× Rafael-built 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA 553 cannons, 140 rounds/gun
• Rockets: assortment of unguided air-to-ground rockets including the Matra JL-100 drop tank/rocket pack, each with 19× SNEB 68 mm rockets and 66 US gallons (250 liters) of fuel
• Missiles: 2× AIM-9 Sidewinders or Shafrir or Python-series AAMs; 2× Shrike ARMs; 2× AGM-65 Maverick ASMs
• Bombs: 5,775 kg (12,730 lb) of payload on nine external hardpoints, including bombs such as the Mark 80 series, Paveway series of LGBs, Griffin LGBs, SMKBs,^[35] TAL-1 OR TAL-2 CBUs, BLU-107 Matra Durandal, reconnaissance pods or Drop tanks