The Dassault Mirage F1 was designed in the same period as the F2 and it had to be the successor of the Mirage IIIC after a government contract that was awarded by the French authorities in 1964. The F1 had to be a conventional swept back winged Multirole fighter.

The first prototype which was a private venture flew on December 23, 1966, and three pre-series aircraft were ordered in September 1967, and the first flew on March 20, 1969. The production model for the French Armée de l'Air was named Mirage F1C.

The F1C was powered by the Atar 9K-50 turbojet with a thrust of 7200 kg with afterburn.

A later model of the Mirage F1, the F1.M53 was a contender for succeeding the F-104 Starfighter in the Air Forces of Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands and Norway together with the Saab 37 Viggen and the General Dynamics F-16 (the last won this contract).

This version of the F1 was powered by a more powerful engine: The SNECMA M53 turbofan rated at 8500 kg's thrust with afterburn.

Because the F1.M53 did not win the contract, plans for a second prototype were canceled, and it did not came in production.