The Dassault Étendard II was a French prototype
fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
initially developed as a follow-on project to the
Dassault Mystère series. It was presented to the
French Air Force
The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...
for evaluation but was rejected in favour of the
Dassault Mirage III.
Originally designated Mystère XXII, the aircraft was developed in response to a French Air Force requirement for a light, jet-powered fighter-bomber. At around the same time, the
NATO NBMR-1 requirement was circulated, also calling for a light strike-fighter, and Dassault developed a very similar aircraft in parallel for that competition (the
Étendard VI).
The sole prototype of the Étendard II flew on July 23, 1956 but proved to be somewhat underpowered and showed nothing like the promise of the Mirage series and was quickly abandoned.
A further development of the Étendard concept, the
Étendard IV was successfully developed for
French Navy service.
Specifications (Étendard II)
See also
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dassault Etendard Ii
Twinjets
Etendard II
1950s French fighter aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Cruciform tail aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1956