Indian Air Force will acquire nine ‘retired’ Jaguar fighter jets from the United Kingdom to be used as a source for spare parts and reusable sub-assemblies. The Jaguar jet was originally produced by an Anglo-French partnership in the 1960’s during the Cold War as a ‘deep penetration strike aircraft. The plane is not produced anymore, the IAF with almost 120 such jets in its fleet, is the only force to be flying the twin-engined Jaguar. IAF has begun inducting in 1979 and the jet continues to equip squadrons at Ambala, Gorakhpur and Jamnagar, the last one being in a maritime strike role. This is the not first time that such an import is being done to ensure the Jaguar keeps flying. Earlier batches of retired planes were imported from France, Oman and the UK, all of which had withdrawn the fighter. In 2018 France gifted 31 retired Jaguar airframes, along with associated engines and assorted spares, to the IAF at no cost. Last year India and Oman formalized an agreement to transfer over 20 retired Jaguars that were decommissioned by the Royal Air Force of Oman. These aircraft have flown for fewer operational hours, their components are in good shape. The spare parts are used to overcome shortages of parts like landing gears, hydraulics, avionics, and the Rolls-Royce Adour engines. The IAF ‘cannibalizes’ the imported planes for spare parts.
