Indian Air Force (IAF) seeks to buy retired British Jaguar Jet Airframes
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is looking to the United Kingdom to help retain its potent punch. The IAF is seeking critically needed spares for its fleet of Jaguar deep strike penetration aircraft. India is the largest export customer and currently the only country which still flies the aircraft since its inception in 1979. The Anglo-French designed and produced aircraft has been the backbone of the IAF’s strike and reconnaissance capability. To keep the aircraft operational, which was retired by France in 2005 and by the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF) in 2007. India, now the sole operator of the aircraft seeks to keep the fleet airworthy.
The IAF is planning to acquire nine airframes decommissioned by the RAF. Besides the decommissioned airframes, 150 different types of spare parts will also be required to keep the fleet operational to meet any requirement. India had also acquired 31 used airframes, spare parts and engines from France in 2018.The air force had previously acquired two airframes each and spare parts from the UK and Oman to meet its requirement for spares for the now-out-of-production strike aircraft.
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The Jaguar has played a pivotal role in Indian Air Force colors. The aircraft was first used operationally during India’s effort to end the civil war in Sri Lanka (Indian Peace Keeping Force\IPKF operations) between 1987-90, when the aircraft was used for reconnaissance. The aircraft was also called upon during the Kargil War of 1999. The Jaguar also carried out aerial reconnaissance during the stand-off with Pakistan in 2001-2002 during Operation Parakram after the terror attack on parliament.
The aircraft has undergone many upgrades in service. The fleet has seen three major upgrades titled DARIN (Display Attack Ranging Inertial Navigation), DARIN-II and DARIN-III. The upgrades were mostly related to avionics and have kept the fleet abreast with the latest trends. The Jaguar, in fact, was the first aircraft in the IAF fleet to be equipped with the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar; the gold standard of radar technology. A plan to re-engine the under-powered aircraft was shelved due to the high costs involved.
The aircraft was for the longest time Indian Air Force’s maritime punch and as such has taken part in exercises with the navy, including ones which involved foreign navies. Besides this the aircraft has represented India in many exercises abroad. The Indian Air Force is expected to replace the DARIN-II Jaguars with the Tejas Mk-1A and the more upgraded variants with the Tejas Mk-2. The IAF operates six squadrons of the jets that are based in Ambala, Gorakhpur and Jamnagar.
