The IAI Kfir (Lion Cub) is a major modification of existing Mirage III aircraft to serve the particular needs of the Israeli Air Force. It's development was brought on mainly by France's refusal to supply the Mirage 5 in the wake of the Six Day War of 1967, forcing Israel to find new ways of upgrading its fleet of combat aircraft in the face of continuing aggression against its Arab neighbors; much of the technology behind the Kfir was obtained through espionage by the Mossad. The Kfir differs from the Mirage III by having a pair of canard foreplanes which increases its maneuvrability and a new powerplant based on the General Electric J79 turbojet. Kfirs have seen extensive combat (albeit mostly in the ground attack role) in various conflicts mostly over Lebanon while foreign users include Colombia, Ecuador, Sri Lanka and the United States which used the Kfir briefly as an aggressor training aircraft.

The first Kfir was an unlicensed conversion of a Mirage IIIC and first flew on 19 October 1970. It began entering squadron service during the middle of the decade as the Kfir C1. These were followed by the Kfir C2 which were the first to include canar foreplanes, nose strakes and dogtooth wing leading edges for greater maneouvre and airfield perfomance. The ultimate israeli version was the Kfir C7 which included a modified engine, complete cockpit modernization and avionics refit, it was also optimized for ground attack missions (two extra hardpoints were added). Finally, the export-only Kfir C10 (or Kfir 2000) has a multimode radar originally developed for the aborted IAI Lavi. Trainer versions include the TC2 and TC7 and in US aggressor trainer service the Kfir was known as the F-21A Lion.