Atlas Cheetah

Uncommon card · No. 132052

The Atlas Cheetah is a South African fighter aircraft produced by the aviation company Atlas Aircraft Corporation (later Denel Aeronautics). It was primarily developed and operated by the South African Air Force (SAAF). The Cheetah was developed amid the Border War of the 1980s as a major upgrade of the French-built Dassault Mirage III fleet operated by the SAAF. The programme integrated technology from the Israeli-built IAI Kfir, which had been derived from the Mirage 5/IAI Nesher. The upgrade programme, which was known as Project Cushion, produced three variants; the two-seat Cheetah D, the single-seat Cheetah E, and the single-seat Cheetah C. All three models were inducted into the SAAF, functioning for a time as the service's most capable fighter and strike aircraft. A single Cheetah R, intended for aerial reconnaissance, was built as a prototype, but this variant never entered service. During 1992, the Cheetah E model was withdrawn from SAAF service; both the Cheetah Cs and Cheetah...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Bob Adams from George, South Africa, CC BY-SA 2.0