The Nesher: How Israel Built a Mirage France Refused to Deliver

When France imposed a sweeping arms embargo on the eve of the Six-Day War, the Mirage V fighters Israel had already paid for stayed locked in a Dassault facility in Bordeaux. With its Mirage IIIC fleet also cut off from spare parts, Israel set out to build the aircraft itself. The result was the Nesher, a fighter that looked uncannily like the Mirage France had refused to hand over. This documentary examines the covert effort behind it, including the disputed accounts of stolen plans and the confirmed leak of Atar 09C engine blueprints by Sulzer engineer Alfred Frauenknecht. It then follows the Nesher into combat: the high-tempo sorties of the Yom Kippur War, its service with Argentina as the Dagger in the Falklands, and the lineage that led to the Kfir. Editorial note: This documentary features independently written narration and analysis. Selected archival footage excerpts provide visual context for the aircraft, missions, engineering decisions, and historical events examined. #WarplaneVault #Nesher #YomKippurWar