An extensive modification and upgrade of the Dassault Mirage III undertaken by the Atlas Aircraft Corporation with some assistance from Israel Aircraft Industries (LAI), the Cheetah was first unveiled on 16 July 1986. The Cheetah consisted of a zero-houred Mirage airframe with canard surfaces and dogtooth wing extensions, provision for a bolt-on flight-refuelling probe, a pair of additional weapons pylons beneath the engine air intakes, a dual-purpose Israeli radar, a new avionics suite and a licence-built SNECMA Atar 9K-50 engine rated at 7200kg with afterburning. The programme involved the upgrading of 14 single-seat Mirage IIIEZs as Cheetah EZs, and eight two-seat Mirage IIID2Z conversion trainers and single-seat IIIR2Z tactical reconnaissance aircraft as Cheetah DZs and RZs respectively. The Cheetah EZ, which was declared operational by the South African Air Force in 1987, equipped only one squadron, No 5. The armament included two 30mm cannon and Armscor V3B Kukri and V3C Darter AAMs for air-to-air missions, and eight 227kg bombs could be carried in the attack role. No data related to the Cheetah EZ are available, but performance was essentially similar to that of the Mirage IIIE and overall dimensions were similar to those of the IAI Kfir.