76 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017I
n May 1965, the British and French
Governments agreed to develop an
advanced trainer/strike aircraft based
on the Breguet 121 design with
Bregeut taking design leadership on the
airframe. Both countries initially agreed
to receive 150 aircraft each with a 50/50
workshare. Breguet building the front
and centre fuselage and BAC manufac-
turing the remainder of it. Final assembly
and flight testing took place in both
countries. UK final assembly and flight
test was at Warton, and following
Breguet’s takeover by Dassault its
activities were centred at Toulouse.
A joint Anglo-French firm called
SEPECAT (Societé Européene de
Production de l’Avion Ecole de Combat et
d’Appui Tactique was set up to develop,
design, co-ordinate manufacture, finance
and sell the new aircraft. In February 1965
Rolls-Royce and Turbomeca had already
agreed to collaborate on their respective
submissions for the aircraft with the
RB172T/T260 Adour. Less than a month
after the agreement, and with the British
car manufacturer’s blessing the new
aircraft was named ‘Jaguar’.The aircraft
The requirement called for Mach 1.7 at
high altitude and Mach 1.1 at low altitude,The first French Jaguar single-seat prototype A03. The previous two French prototypes were twin-seaters. Note the original short fin. (BAE SYSTEMS)Jaguar - Anglo-French
strike trainer
XW560, the first British
prototype S06 landing at
Warton. It also has the
original short fin. (BAE
SYSTEMS North West Heritage)