32 Ex-French Jaguar fighter coming to India
According to a recent report prepared by TIMES NOW, France has decided to gift 32 Ex- Jaguar Fighter to Indian Air Force For free of cost. IAF is benefiting from the goodwill the Rafale deal has created.
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 to checked stored Jaguar quality and found aircrafts worthy to be used as spares to support current fleet of Jaguar fighter’s operated by India and according to ” Times Now”, India is currently in process of shipping them back to India.
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.
Dassault Aviation is trying to build goodwill in India after a deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets signed by the PM Modi in 2015 was attacked by Opposition in India.
Recently 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.
Dassault Aviation already has sent its proposal for IAF’s Tender for 110 fighter jets and have also responded to Indian Navy’s requirement for 57 carriers based fighter jet.
