As a result of this outcome, in 1967, France entered into a series of discussions with West Germany on the topic of a prospective collaboration effort to meet this demand.

[3] France also valued military cooperation with West Germany, wanting to break a perceived German ideological preference for American aircraft.

In 1971, this was abandoned over fears of a hostile US reaction and West Germany's offset obligations to the United States making such a move unpalatable.

[10] In February 1971, the project definition phase was completed and the integrated design team was set up at Saint-Cloud, Paris, France.

[13] Manufacture of Alpha Jet sub-assemblies was divided between France (Dassault), Germany (Dornier) and Belgium (SABCA), each country performing final assembly and checkout of the type in separate facilities.

Dassault hosted the largest of these three assembly lines, typically producing 13 aircraft per month to meet the needs of French and export customers.

In September 1978, Dassault and the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) signed a license manufacturing agreement for the Alpha Jet.

It was considered as a candidate for the US Navy's VTXTS advanced trainer program, eventually won by the McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk, a modified version of the Hawker Siddeley Hawk.

Proposed modifications included undercarriage changes for nose-tow catapults and a stronger arrestor hook, as well as various US-sourced avionics and other equipment.

[9] The four prototypes remained in service as flying testbeds, being used for further development of the type such as to evaluate a composite graphite-epoxy wing and improved versions of the Larzac engine.

It featured the basic avionics of the MS2 plus compatibility with the advanced French Matra Magic 2 AAMs and the more powerful Larzac 04-C20 turbofans refitted to Luftwaffe Alpha Jet A aircraft.

In June 1985, Dornier announced that it was studying its own third generation Alpha Jet upgrade program, independent of Dassault.

The Alpha Jet is designed to accommodate ten-minute turn around times with minimal ground equipment, using features such as pressurised single-point refueling, ladder-less entry/exit of the cockpit, and a ten-hour endurance of the liquid oxygen system.

The principal users of the type, Germany and France, operated their Alpha Jets in different capacities, the German as a ground attack platform and the French as a trainer aircraft.

The need for greater thrust to power the aircraft than the original model of the engine could generate led to the development and adoption of the 2,970 lb Larzac 04 in February 1972.

[25] The avionics of the original version of the Alpha Jet were of an austere nature, partly to make it a simple and easily exportable aircraft.

[28] During the early 1990s, the French Air Force investigated the Alpha Jet 3 program, which involved installing a fully digital cockpit, modernised communications suite, and a full navigation/attack and sensor training system.

[29] In June 2003, Dassault revealed its plans for an Alpha Jet upgrade to potentially meet the French Air Force's long term training requirements.

[30] In September 2014, Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) and French Air Force officials were reportedly investigating the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master as a replacement for the Alpha Jet.

[1][16] In 1985, West Germany began a comprehensive upgrade program, known as the Improved Combat Efficiency (ICE) program, for their Alpha Jet fleet; these upgrades were to involve the installation of a Mil Spec 1553B databus, new sensors integrated with the navigation/attack systems, modernized electronic countermeasures suite, measures to minimize the aircraft's radar and infrared signatures, protection measures around the fuel system, and new armaments such as the AGM-65 Maverick.

In a series of strikes, these aircraft targeted and launched successful attacks upon Charles Taylor's HQ, rebel convoys and shipping, and gun emplacements at Roberts International Airport; the results of their intervention was judged by The New York Times to have given ECOMOG forces a decisive advantage in fire power.

They were even employed to deny access to key bridges in order to give ECOMOG ground forces time to capture them before they were sabotaged.

In September 2014, multiple Alpha Jets conducted a large number of aerial bombardment missions over and around the area of Bama, Borno State, during the fight to regain the city following the withdrawal of friendly ground forces.

[56] In early October 2014, Boko Haram released a video containing the decapitation of who they claimed was a captured Nigerian Air Force pilot of a downed Alpha Jet.

[57] In March 2016, attacks performed by Nigerian Alpha Jets had reportedly dislodged Boko Haram fighters from Sambisa Forest, Borno State.

[67] During the late 1990s and 2000s, SABCA performed a number of upgrades on the Belgian aircraft to the Alpha Jet 1B+ configuration; improvements made included the addition of a laser-gyro inertial navigation system, a GPS receiver, a HUD in the front cockpit and a HUD repeater in the rear, a video recorder and other more minor improvements.

[69] In February 2000, Egypt was reportedly seeking to replace their Alpha Jet fleet, and was investigating several options, including the BAE Systems Hawk.

[46][74] H211, a private company which manages the planes owned and leased by Google execs Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt, operates a single Alpha Jet, based at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

[77] Considerable foreign sales were expected for the Alpha Jet, with the type becoming available before its main rival, the United Kingdom's BAE Systems Hawk.

Several other nations also obtained the Alpha Jet E, including the Ivory Coast (seven aircraft), Morocco (24), Nigeria (24), Qatar (six) and Togo (five).