BAE Systems

82 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017

fleet with a former RAF T2 and a GR1 and

contracted BAe Warton to carry out a nav/

attack upgrade on all its remaining fleet

between 1986 and 1989. The Omani

Jaguars were retired in 2014.

After lengthy negotiations Nigeria

became the final customer for the Jaguar

International with an order for 18, all built

to the final Jaguar International standard

with Adour 811 engines. These Jaguars

were the final ones manufactured. The

Nigerian aircraft had a short life serving

from 1984 until 1991 when they were

withdrawn from use.

JS126 – JS134, nine of the 35 Indian Air Force Jaguars

single-seaters assembled at Warton as part of the large Indian

order for 130 Jaguars. There were also three twin-seaters

assembled at Warton, 45 completed from SEPECAT kits in

Bangalore and further aircraft were mainly built from Indian

parts in India. (BAE SYSTEMS North West Heritage)

ˆNigeria received

18 Jaguars from

1984 but they were

retired only seven

years later. NAF 705

bearing ‘B’ markings

G27-392.

(BAE SYSTEMS North

West Heritage)

Indian Air Force order

In the 1970s India was seeking to become

self-reliant and would only consider those

aircraft where licence production in India

was possible. After considering the Mirage

F1 and Saab Viggen, in October 1978 the

Indian Government chose the Jaguar

because it fulfilled the IAF’s requirements,

was the most economical, could be

delivered ahead of its two competitors

and was the only twin-engined aircraft in

the field.

Negotiations were completed with

BAe in April 1979 for a total of 168 aircraft

to be built. Warton was to build 38, then

45 assembled by Hindustan Aircraft Ltd

(HAL) at Bangalore from kits provided by

SEPECAT, and then an increasing

proportion of Indian components would

be employed and from 1984 the Jaguars

would be entirely Indian built. For the

Indian Air Force’s immediate needs the

RAF loaned 18 Jaguars, including two

trainers trained pilots and ground crew.

The IAF eventually received twenty Jaguar

IB (India B) twin-seaters, 136 Jaguar IS

(India Strike) single-seaters and twelve

Jaguar IM (India Maritime) single-seat