Question: Dassault Mirage F1 was developed as a successor the this aircraft that holds the distinction of being the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed what in horizontal flight?
Context: Jean-Philippe Douin (8 April 1940 – 19 January 2016) was a French Air Force general.  He was the Chief of Staff of the French Air Force from 1994 to 1995 and Chief of the Defence Staff from 1995 to 1998.  There was some controversy surrounding his appointment since, as a Conscript between 1958 and 1959, he had served in a French Marine Light Cavalry/Light Armored Reconnaissance Regiment (Régiment d'infanterie-chars de marine) in Algeria that was accused of committing war crimes during the Algerian War; later, as a young Air Force Lieutenant and Dassault Mirage III fighter pilot in 1961, his unit had taken part in the Algiers Putsch under the command of Air Vice Marashal Jouhaud.  For most of his flying career, Douin piloted the Dassault Mirage III and the Dassault Mirage 5, commanding a squadron, wing and fighter group, before becoming the French Air Attache to Pakistan and Chile.  After entering the General Ranks he served variously as a doctrinal specialist in the Air Force Staff & Training Command, the chief of Aerial Intelligence for a Fighter Division, and Commander of a Fighter Division. The Dassault Mirage F1 is a French fighter and attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation.  It was developed as a successor to the popular Mirage III family. In cooperation with AEG built MOWAG 37 aircraft tug named Flz Sch 4x2 for the Swiss Air Force.  The vehicles were used primarily to move the Dassault Mirage IIIS and Mirage III RS in and out of the aircraft caverns.  A special feature compared to other aircraft tugs (e.g. Bucher aircraft tractor) was that in these, the aircraft could be suspended during the journey of the towing hook to keep the time between leaving the cavern and the lift off of the Mirage short.  The Mirage began immediately upon leaving the "Vorstollens" to start their engine.  Once the engine was running, the latch was released by the tractor driver and he drove from the plane away and turned to the right, so the Mirage freely under its own power could roll on the taxiway to the runway.  The aircraft tractors were in use from 1967 to 2003 by the Swiss Air Force.  One is now part of the Military museum Full. Brent D. Brandon (born 1960) is a former U.S. Air Force officer and Electronic Warfare Officer who scored an air-to-air kill against an Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1, in the opening minutes of the Gulf War on January 17, 1991.  During an engagement that involved aggressive, low-altitude maneuvering, the F-1 impacted the ground making Brandon's unarmed EF-111 the only F-111 to achieve an aerial victory over another aircraft. The Dassault Mirage III (] ) is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation.  It holds the distinction of being the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizontal flight. The Raad (Urdu: رعد‎ , "Thunder") is an air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) developed by Pakistan and operational with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).  Though initially launched from a PAF Dassault Mirage III ROSE combat aircraft during testing, the missile is planned to be integrated with and launched from other PAF platforms such as the JF-17 combat aircraft.  The Ra'ad's current range is stated to be 350 km. This is a list of Dassault Mirage IIIs, Dassault Mirage 5s, and Mirage 50s used by national air forces.  The Central Intelligence Agency once estimated that a little over 800 of the three aircraft types had been exported to various countries around the world. The Short SC.1 was the first British fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft developed by Short Brothers.  It was powered by an arrangement of five Rolls-Royce RB108 jet engines, four of which were used for vertical flight and one for conventional horizontal flight.  The SC.1 had the distinction of being the first British fixed-wing VTOL aircraft and the first one to transition between vertical and horizontal flight modes; it was also the first VTOL-capable aircraft that was furnished with a fly-by-wire control system. The French Air Force (French: "Armée de l'air" ] , literally "air army") is the air force of the French Armed Forces.  It was formed in 1909 as the "Service Aéronautique", a service arm of the French Army, then was made an independent military arm in 1934.  The number of aircraft in service with the French Air Force varies depending on source, however sources from the French Ministry of Defence give a figure of 658 aircraft in 2014.  The French Air Force has 241 combat aircraft in service, with the majority being 133 Dassault Mirage 2000 and 108 Dassault Rafale.  As of early 2017, the French Air Force employs a total of 41,160 regular personnel.  The reserve element of the air force consisted of 5,187 personnel of the Operational Reserve. The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation.  It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force ("Armée de l'Air").  The Mirage 2000 evolved into a multirole aircraft with several variants developed, with sales to a number of nations.  It was later developed into the Mirage 2000N and 2000D strike variants, the improved Mirage 2000-5 and several export variants.  Over 600 aircraft were built and it has been in service with nine nations.
Answer: Mach 2