Atlas Carver

Atlas Carver
Role	Fighter aircraft
National origin	South Africa
Manufacturer	Atlas Aircraft Corporation
Status	Cancelled
Primary user	South African Air Force (proposed)
Number built	None; 1 prototype unfinished
Program cost	US$2 billion
Developed from	Atlas Cheetah

The Atlas Carver (sometimes erroneously referred to as "CAVA") was a proposed South African twin-engine, delta wing fourth-generation fighter aircraft. It was developed by the Atlas Aircraft Corporation to replace the ageing Blackburn Buccaneer and Mirage III then in service with the South African Air Force, and match or exceed the capabilities of late-generation Soviet fighters likely to be deployed to neighbouring states, specifically Angola, during the South African Border War. The Carver bore some external resemblance to the Dassault Mirage 4000, and was to incorporate a number of Snecma engine components produced under licence.

Throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s, South African military aircraft development was dictated largely by the South African Border War, which entailed an escalating counter-insurgency campaign being waged in both South-West Africa (Namibia) and parts of southern Angola against militants of the South-West African People's Organisation (SWAPO). South African raids into Angola, however, often provoked clashes with the People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola (FAPLA), which was bolstered by Soviet arms and a sizeable contingent of Cuban troops. In November 1985, FAPLA began acquiring more sophisticated aircraft and radar installations to wrest air superiority over southern Angola from South Africa's expeditionary forces. South Africa responded to its declining air superiority by upgrading its ageing Dassault Mirage III fighter aircraft with new weapons and avionics designed to make them less vulnerable to Soviet-designed missiles and radar. The modified Mirages, known as Atlas Cheetahs, were considered only an interim solution until a new, multirole fighter could be deployed. Due to a mandatory arms embargo imposed on the South African government by United Nations Security Council Resolution 418, any new combat aircraft and its associated systems would have to be sourced locally or assembled using parts imported or licensed prior to the embargo. The programme to build this proposed fighter was codenamed Project Carver.

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