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These suspicions have a sound basis in fact. Marcel Dassault, before the war, was Marcel Bloch, producer of the Bloch series of fighters before the German occupation. As a Jew, he naturally suffered the persecution the Nazis were exposing all of Europe to, and Bloch was sent from camp to camp through the war. He narrowly escaped death in Auschwitz, by some accounts escaping death by a matter of hours as the American expeditionary forces entered the gates of this terrible place. He returned to France as soon as he was able, and re-established his aircraft company. Being of Jewish extraction, he therefore was happy to take a lead in France's contributions of armaments to the new state of Israel. The sudden refusal of the French government to provide the Mirage V, after the proving in combat of the Mirage III for all the world to see in the Six Day War, prompted the Dassault to make his gift to Israel in the form of the Mirage V's complete blueprint set, minus that of the Atar engine. (The events described have been set forward semi-fictitiously in the novel Mirage by Ken Follett)

The Nesher ("Eagle") was a complete copy of the Mirage 5, except for the use of some Israeli avionics, a Martin-Baker zero-zero ejector seatF/A-22 Raptor ejection seat test using a mannequin. In (mostly military) aircraft, the ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the pilot or other crew in the event of the aircraft becoming unflyable. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the a, and provisions for a wider range of AAMs, including the Israeli Shafir heat-seeking missile.

The first Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Nesher prototype flew in September 1969For other uses, see Number 1969. For the movie, see 1969 (movie). Events January January 1 Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper The News Of The World January 5 The Derry Riots leave over 100 people i, with production deliveries to the Heyl Ha'Avir beginning in 19721972 is a leap year starting on Saturday (click link for calendar). Events January events January 2 the Pierre Hotel Heist Six men rob the safety deposit boxes of the Pierre Hotel in New York City. Loot is at least $4 million January 5 President of the Un. These aircraft performed well during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, claiming over a hundred kills.

51 Nesher fighters and 10 Nesher two-seat trainers were built in all. As mentioned earlier, most of these aircraft were refurbished and exported to ArgentinaArgentina is a Spanish-speaking country in southern South America, situated between the Andes in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east. It is bordered by Paraguay and Bolivia in the north, Brazil and Uruguay in the northeast and Chile in th in 1978Events January January 1 The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law. January 1 Air India's Boeing 747 explodes near Bombay 213 dead. January 4 Referendum in Chile supports policies of Augusto Pinochet.- 1982Events January January 6 William Bonin is convicted of being the "freeway killer". January 8 AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions January 11 Mark Thatcher, son of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, disappears in the Sahara du, under the name "Dagger". The Argentineans received 35 "Dagger A" single-seat fighters and 4 "Dagger B" two-seat trainers.

Nesher production was terminated to make way for an improved Mirage derivative that had been in planning in parallel, in which the Atar engine was to be replaced with an Israeli-built General Electric J79 engine, the same engine used on the American F-104 Starfighter and F-4 Phantom II fighters. The result would be the IAI Kfir.