SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Jaguar strike fighter aircraft that remain un-upgraded will be phased out from the Indian Air Force fleet starting from 2025-26 onwards till 2033 when the last of the fleet type will be completely phased out. Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on Tuesday while speaking to the media confirmed that in the next three years remaining 3 squadrons of the Mig-21 bison will be phased out and then they will start with Jaguar squadrons.
Indian Air Force (IAF) operates around six squadrons of Jaguars fighter jets that started being inducted into IAF from 1979 onwards and the last four Jaguars were inducted in 2008-9. HAL locally produced 37 Jaguars from 1989 onwards and many of them were later upgraded to DARIN III Standard which had AESA fire control radar, over wing ASRAAM CCM, inertial navigation system with GPS, and Geodetic height correction.
In 2019, IAF dropped plans to upgrade DARIN III Standard aircraft with more powerful Honeywell F-125IN engines due to the high cost of the engine replacement program that could have prolonged its service life till 2038. 56 DARIN-III standard Jaguars will be the last to go with the phase-out of the type to be completed by 2033-34.
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