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Indian Air Force To Begin Phasing Out Jaguar Fleet From 2023 As Engine Upgrade Plans Fail
Five Jaguar aircrafts in an arrowhead formation of the Indian Air Force (INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images)
The Indian Air Force has withdrawn the long-overdue plan of providing new engines to the Jaguar fighter fleet due to time and cost concerns, reports The Hindu. According to the defence sources, the Air Force does not feel the need for immediate replacement of the fleet’s engines.
“The design and development [of the engines] itself will take six years and then [more years for] modifying the aircraft. The project will take too long beside the high cost. So the proposal has been called off”, a senior defence source said.
He adds that the replacement phase-out plan for the beginning variants will start in 2023 and will phase out for over 15 years until 2038. Currently, IAF has 116 Jaguars, and the plan to replace the underpowered engines on 80 jets with the powerful Honeywell F-125IN engines has been repeatedly delayed.
Now, IAF decided that the programme cost had become prohibitive and felt that upgrading will take a long time by which the phasing of the aircraft will happen. “They are not due for replacement as of now,” the source said while replying to, when asked which aircraft would replace the Jaguars.
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