Originally Posted by Tim McLelland
As for France's track record Lazer, the Mirage family (which was the only French product of any significance) was a design based unashamedly on the British Fairey Delta (as even Dassault grudingly accepted), and sold tremendously well because the British (as usual) were incapable of developing and selling a superior design. While France happily hauled-in Mirage exports, we suffered from the whims of stupid politicians who wouldn't spend money on developing the Lightning (and other designs) into what would have been far superior machines.
Erm, what was the UK contribution to the Mirage F1, BTW? You may have noticed that that was quite a considerable export success too, as was the Mirage 2000. As were many French helicopter designs.