Medium air superiority, attack, reconnaissance, strike fighter.

Primarily aimed at replacing the Mirage III in French service, the Mirage F1 has been used in numerous conflicts by all operators. During the late seventies, the Mirage F1 competed with the General Dynamics F-16 for the "Sale of the Century", but lost at second place. At one point, the Mirage F1 was the most numerous type in NATO, next to the F-16 and F-5. The conventional design, with a complete empennage, is a departure from the staple of Delta Wing designs by Dassault. Despite the traditional layout, the Mirage F1 has some of the most graceful lines, found in the sky.

The F1CR model is a dedicated reconaissance variant of the earlier F1C multi-role aircraft. F1CR standard adds a new Thomson-TRT 40 panoramic camera or a Thomson-TRT 33 vertical camera in the nose, SAT SCM2400 Super Cyclone infrared line-scan unit, Cyrano IVM-R RADAR.