IAF Jet Crash: Inducted in 1970s, are Jaguar aircraft ‘too old' to fly or 'aging like a fine wine'?
"An IAF Jaguar Trainer aircraft met with an accident during a routine training mission and crashed near Churu in Rajasthan today. Both pilots sustained fatal injuries in the accident. No damage to any civil property has been reported," IAF said in a post on X.
The Air Forces said it 'deeply regrets' the loss of lives and constituted a court of inquiry to ascertain the cause of the accident.
Wednesday's accident is the third mishap involving a Jaguar since March this year. On March 7, an Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar ground attack fighter crashed near Panchkula during a routine sortie. On April 3, another Jaguar jet crashed in Gujarat's Jamnagar. Flight Lieutenant Siddharth Yadav, the pilot of the aircraft, died in the crash.
These back-to-back accidents raise concerns about the safety of India's aging Jaguar combat fleet, which has been operational for five decades now.
The Jaguars were inducted into the IAF in the 1970s. Today, the IAF is the world's only air force that continues to operate some six squadrons of the Anglo-French twin-engine Jaguar IS/IB/IM variants.
Britain, Ecuador, France, Oman and Nigeria have all retired their Jaguar fighters years ago
The first batch of 40 Jaguars—Shamsher—was inducted into the IAF in fly-away condition beginning in1979. Thereafter, via a transfer of technology, another 100-odd were licence-built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) until 2008.
According to media reports, Jaguars have been involved in over 50 accidents, including recent ones, over the years. Past probes into mishaps pointed to engine failure, raising questions about the longevity of these warbirds.
At times, analysts linked their 'under-powered' Rolls-Royce-Turbomecca Adour Mk811 engines to the mishaps.
For years, the Ministry of Defence (MoD), has been planning to 're-engine' the Jaguars with the US-made Honeywell F-125IN turbofan power pack. However, the plan was scrapped in August 2109, perhaps, due to the high cost.
Now, the IAF is expected to begin phasing out its older Jaguar models after 2027-28. But amid delays in acquiring the HAL Tejas Mk2, Rafale, and Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft, it is left with little choice but to extend the life of these outdated planes. The complete phasing out is scheduled by 2035-2040, according to media reports.
'India is flying Jaguars because India has no other choice. We don't make any aircraft, we only have to buy. The process of buying and selecting is cumbersome. We are also short of squadrons. We are supposed to have 40 + and we are down to about 30. Jaguar like other aircrafts has crashed. I would not call it very dangerous,' Wing Commander Praful Bakshi (Retd) told a TV channel in the April crash.
'Yes, we are using them. They are too old,' he told the TV channel.
Military analyst and retired Jaguar pilot squadron leader Vijainder K Thakur, however, suggests that retiring IAF Jaguars, which, according to him, are 'aging like a fine wine,' would not be a welcome move.
Thakur suggests that, considering the relentless depletion of the IAF's fighter inventory, the Jaguar phaseout plan could affect the IAF's operational capability.
'One reason why the Jaguar has remained relevant is that the IAF has adopted the fighter for medium-altitude stand-off strikes. We will look at the Jaguar's medium altitude strike capability later in this narrative,' Thakur wrote in EurAsian Times last September.
Thakur argued that the Russia-Ukraine conflict emphasised the continued relevance of a fighter jet like the Jaguar. The conflict has illustrated that low-level penetration of contested airspace by attack aircraft is far safer than medium-altitude penetration because of the widespread use of and increased capabilities of Air Defence systems, he said.
The Jaguar is now a potent platform despite being somewhat underpowered.
In India, during the Kargil War in 1999, the SEPECAT Jaguar played a significant role, particularly in reconnaissance and precision strikes. Jaguars were used for both reconnaissance and bombing missions then.
According to Thakur, since its initial induction into the IAF, the IAF has continuously upgraded the Jaguar to improve its stand-off attack, strike range, and target acquisition capabilities.
Thakur wrote that these upgrades, referred to as DARIN (Display Attack Ranging Inertial Navigation) upgrades, were done in three phases: DARIN-1, DARIN-2, and DARIN-3.
The Inertial Nav-Attack System Integration Organisation (IIO), a multiagency unit established by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), IAF, and HAL, first built the DARIN system in the 1980s.
In 2008, for example, HAL, the state-owned military plane maker, decided to upgrade 68 so-called 'deep penetration' Jaguar fighters with modern avionics in a contract valued at more than ₹ 2,400 crore, which will increase the fighter planes' life and efficacy.
'Clearly, the Jaguar is now a potent platform despite being somewhat underpowered. It could be retained in service longer than currently projected to prevent the unacceptable depletion of IAF fighter aircraft inventory. Indeed, that may well be the case,' wrote Thakur.
'However, longer service retention could only be achieved by reducing the aircraft's monthly flying hours,' he suggested.
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