The AFVG mock-up at Warton (with a Jaguar fin visible in the adjacent bay). The mock-up was fitted with only one wing, but the general characteristics of the prospective twin-engined strike aircraft are easy to determine. It was vital to preserve BAC’s technological capability, which would ultimately bear fruit in the MRCA/Tornado project with West Germany and Italy.
A contract for one two-seat single-engined experimental variable-geometry fighter prototype was awarded to Dassault by the French government on October 13, 1965. It was first publicly shown, as a static exhibit only, at the 1967 Paris Air Salon. The wing sweep had a range from 20° when fully forward to 70° in the fully swept position.
The first Mirage G prototype, powered by a single SNECMA-built Pratt & Whitney TF-306E turbofan, made its maiden flight on November 18, 1967. After an extensive test programme, it was lost in an accident on January 31, 1971. Two examples of a twin-engined version were later developed and flown during 1971-72, but the G project was abandoned.
Another photograph of the contemporary AFVG model, this time with the wings in the fully forward position. The resemblance to the Dassault Mirage G is striking, although the first prototype of the latter was single-engined, whereas the AFVG was always intended to be fitted with two engines
A contemporary model of the AFVG with its wings in the fully swept position. Note the RAF roundels on the port wing and French roundels on the starboard wing.
