High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Dassault Mirage IIIV was a French vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) prototype fighter aircraft of the mid-1960s. Unlike its predecessor, the Dassault Mirage III, the IIIV model featured eight small vertical lift jets straddling the main engine. The design was in response to a NATO specification for a VTOL strike fighter. One of the two aircraft built was destroyed in an accident and the project was abandoned, the surviving aircraft is on public display.