France To Give 31 Jaguar aircraft Free Of Charge To India
According to report prepared by French magazine ” Le Pointe “, confirms that India and France are holding discussions on possible transfer of 31 grounded Jaguar strike fighters previously used by the French Air Force but retired from 2005 on wards to India to be used for spares to support the existing IAF’s Jaguar fleet.
” Le Pointe ” reports says that Ex-French Jaguar strike fighters will be transferred free of charge and will not be sold to India as per earlier media reports. a team of engineers which visited France with Indian Air Force Commander-in-Chief, Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa earlier this month might have already checked stored Jaguar to carryout an internal assessment of the condition of this grounded retired jets and detail report will soon be submitted to government and Indian air force top tier.
The aircraft currently mothballed and stored at Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir) is being offered to India as a gift, in the hopes for more Rafale orders.
According to sources, the offer was made by French President Emmanuel Macron himself on June 3rd during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and confirmed by highly placed French military official.
These jets will be used for spare parts and as attrition replacements in the current fleet.
Transferred aircraft will enable IAF which is the lone operator of the aircraft type to maintain this aircraft till 2034 and recovered spare parts from French aircraft will help India immensely to maintain this ageing jets since new spares are not manufactured anymore. India and France will have a win win situation since France will get rid of jets which no one wants and has low resale value due to lack of operators and India will get them free of cost which will help India maintain its current fleet till they retire.
JAGUAR DARIN III
The SEPECAT Jaguar is an Anglo-French jet attack aircraft designed and developed by a joint venture between Breguet of France(Now part of Dassault) and UK based British Aircraft Corporation (BAC).It was built by HAL under licence.It was retired from British Royal Air Force in 2007and from French Armee de I’Air in 2005,But it served its service to INDIAN AIR FORCE till Now.
HAL Conducted the successful maiden flight of Darin III, the upgraded Jaguar ground attack aircraft,in November 2012.This aircraft is indigenously upgraded by HAL.The HAL upgraded navigation system,electronic warfare system and weapon delivery system but the IAF was not satisfied with that so HAL planned to upgrade more features
The Darin III allows the Jaguar can carry new generation weapon systems like new generation ASRAAM Air to Air missiles more powerful AGM 88 HARM missiles for SEAD role, more powerful LGB/PGM’s with CBU-105 (Censor Fuzed Weapon). The Jaguar comes with RLG inertial navigation and a digital terrain mapping system which is a very good alternative to terrain hugging and avoidance Radar systems.
The Jaguar also comes with Israeli Listening pods for better recon and pin point ground attack missions with using of LGB/PGM. The DARIN III comes with IADS suites which allow the Jaguar escape from any kind of Airborne and Ground threats.
The Maritime version comes with Radar named Agave which can fire Sea Eagle Anti Ship missile, a primary maritime strike aircraft for IAF. This can be upgraded into DARIN III Standard with newer Israeli ELTA Radar, which is capable to fire the new Generation Harpoon Anti Shipping Missiles from Jaguar IM Aircraft. HAL has already completed the DARIN III Upgrade of Jaguars and IAF has accepted its performance and IAF will soon receive the upgraded Jaguar from HAL.
The SFC Jaguars comes with nuclear strike Missions. Currently IAF have only one certified Aircraft which can carry nuclear bombs. More than 20+ Aircraft’s are under SFC control and are capable of carrying out nuclear Gravity bombs.
The Jaguar Aircraft has armed with 2x30mm DEFA cannons guns with 5 hardpoints 4 uder wing and 1 under center-line pylon stations .It is also equipped with 8x Matra rocke pods with 18x SNEB 68mm rockets each.
Missiles include AS.37 Martel anti-radar missiles,AS-30L laser guided air-to-ground missiles and 2x R550 magic Air-to-air missiles.
Bombs included are various unguided or laser-guided or 2x WE177A nuclear bombs and 1xAN-52 nuclear bomb.It has also ECM protection pods,Reconnaissance Pod,ATLIS laser/electro-optical targeting pod,external drop tanks for extended range/loitering time.
Source – LePoint, TejasIndiamrca
