IAF airplane crash places highlight on ageing Jaguar fighter jet: Are these planes too previous to fly?

The Indian Air Power (IAF) has misplaced two pilots right this moment (July 9) after a Jaguar fighter jet crashed close to Bhanuda village in Rajasthan’s Churu district. A police official mentioned that the plane crashed in an agriculture subject in Bhanoda village round 1.25 pm on Wednesday, after it took off from the Suratgarh airbase.

The IAF has confirmed that each pilots on board suffered deadly accidents. “An IAF Jaguar Coach plane met with an accident throughout a routine coaching mission and crashed close to Churu in Rajasthan, right this moment. Each pilots sustained deadly accidents within the accident,” wrote the IAF on X.

Notably, that is the
third Jaguar airplane to crash this 12 months — earlier, the IAF’s Jaguar crashed in Gujarat in April, killing one pilot, whereas one other one crashed in Haryana in March.

The crashes as soon as once more highlights the problems associated to the growing old airplane and the challenges posed by their total upkeep, restore and overhaul.

Jaguars, the work horse of the IAF

The SEPECAT Jaguar was first launched in 1968, was a three way partnership between the British Plane Company and the French Breguet Firm to develop a brand new supersonic jet coach for the French Air Power and Royal Air Power.

Initially, it was conceived to be a jet coach with a lightweight floor assault functionality, however was later modified to incorporate supersonic efficiency, reconnaissance and tactical nuclear strike roles. Right now, it’s a two-seater fighter plane with the power to hold quite a lot of missiles, together with air-to-air choices, just like the AIM-9 Sidewinder, ASRAAM, and R.550 Magic.

In 1979, India acquired the Jaguars, christening them as Shamsher (that means Sword of Justice in Persian). When the primary two Jaguars have been inducted into the IAF on July 27, 1979, Group Captain Kapil Bhargava famous in an article for Air Forces Month-to-month that it marked the start of a brand new period within the IAF’s aviation capabilities.

The Jaguar quickly earned a popularity as a low-level deep penetration strike specialist — this jet performed a major position in reconnaissance and high-altitude precision focusing on assist throughout the Kargil Struggle in 1999. Even within the
Balakot air strikes of 2019, the IAF used the Jaguar plane as decoys to bait the Pakistan air pressure’s F-16 and transfer them away from the supposed goal space.

Right now, the IAF operates roughly 120 Jaguar jets in six squadrons.

Jaguar’s chequered legacy within the IAF

Whereas the Jaguar has grow to be a crucial aspect of the IAF’s fleet, it’s not with out its points.

In 2025, there have already been three crashes involving the airplane. On March 7, a
Jaguar fighter jet crashed shortly after taking off from the Ambala airbase in Haryana. The stays of the ill-fated plane have been scattered throughout within the forest space on the hilly terrain close to Raipur Rani within the Panchkula district of Haryana near the Haryana-Himachal Pradesh border.

An official assertion by the IAF learn, “A Jaguar plane of the IAF crashed at Ambala throughout a routine coaching sortie right this moment, after encountering a system malfunction. The pilot maneuvered the plane away from any habitation on the bottom earlier than ejecting safely. An inquiry has been ordered by the IAF to establish the reason for the accident.”

Fortuitously, the pilot escaped the crash with minimal accidents.

Rather less than a month later, on April 2, one other Jaguar crashed close to Jamnagar Airfield throughout an evening mission, claiming the lifetime of
Flight Lieutenant Siddharth Yadav. Based on the IAF’s official assertion, each pilots ejected after detecting the failure, guaranteeing the jet crashed in an open subject as an alternative of populated areas. Nonetheless, regardless of the ejection, Flight Lieutenant Yadav succumbed to his accidents.

Sources mentioned that previously, there have been a number of incidents involving the Jaguar as this fleet of plane has suffered over 50 main and minor incidents in its 45-year service with the IAF, a few of which have been deadly.

Challenges the IAF faces in flying Jaguars

The crash on Wednesday as soon as once more raises questions if the Jaguar is certainly too previous to fly. In truth, India’s Air Power is the one main air pressure that also operates Jaguars; nations like Britain, France, Ecuador, Nigeria and Oman, which as soon as had Jaguars of their fleet, have retired them way back, with some jets placed on show in air museums.

Consultants notice that most of the crashes involving the Jaguar fighter jet was a results of failures within the Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca Adour Mk 804 and Mk 811 engines. Many specialists notice that one of many greatest issues with these engines is the thrust output, which is insufficient in India’s hot-and-high flying circumstances, particularly from ahead air bases close to the Himalayas. As The Print notes in a report, the engines battle with efficiency throughout crucial mission phases resembling take-off, climb, and low-level manoeuvring below full payload circumstances.

Furthermore, the supply of spare elements for the Mk 804/811 engines has grow to be a critical logistical bottleneck.

Tim Davis, a former Royal Air Power teacher in an IRDW report said, “Even with engine and avionics upgrades, you continue to face points with airframe fatigue. There’s solely a lot of an plane you possibly can change.

“It comes down this: even one pilot demise is a tragedy. And the older the plane will get, the upper the dangers.”

IAF’s dwindling power

The IAF has plans to section out the Jaguar from its fleet by 2031. Nonetheless, delays in buying the HAL Tejas Mk2, Rafale, and the MRFA (Multi-Position Fighter Plane), has pressured the IAF to exnted the lifetime of this ageing airplane.

Right now, the IAF is already
brief on its fighter squadrons from a sanctioned power of 42.5 to simply 30 jets presently. In truth, in February, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh highlighted the scarcity of fighter jets, ruing the delays within the procurement of crucial army platforms. He added that the Indian Air Power is “very badly off in numbers”, declaring that it should induct 40 fighter jets yearly to remain fight prepared.

“We now have fleets that shall be phased out within the subsequent 5 to 10 years. These fleets must get replaced with new plane, and we have already got vacancies accessible (shortfall). We’re 35 to 40 plane a 12 months being produced someplace. I perceive capacities can’t come up in a single day, however we have to begin pushing ourselves in the direction of that,” he was quoted as saying.

With inputs from companies