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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 0946.PDF
D£f3tt A matter of survival It is an operational and frontline success, but Jaguar improvements may yet be butchered by the UK Treasury's axe DOUGLAS BARRIE/LONDON THAT THE UK Government is consider ing axeing the Royal Air Force's fleet of Sepecat Jaguars - despite its avowed desire for smart procurement - appears a case of scrapping a programme which provides an alternative procurement template to the classic big bang upgrade approach. The fate of the RAF's three Jaguar squadrons, based at Coltishall in Norfolk, will be deter mined by the outcome of the Government's Strategic Defence Review (SDR). As the Treasury searches for savings, the RAF'sJaguars are under immense pressure, although senior RAF officers vow to battle to save the type. It is clearly a fight they believe to be worth while. From being the RAF's forgotten combat aircraft, thejaguar has benefited from a renais sance with what are effectively a series of rolling upgrade projects providing die air force with a combat aircraft well suited for operations of low and medium level intensity. The Jaguar's initial return to favour began with the emergence of an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) 41/94, to carry the GEC- Marconi Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designator (TIALD) and laser guided free-fall bombs. The UOR covered the upgrade of 12 aircraft, and included the introduction of the 1553 digital databus. In the event, 11 of the 12 aircraft were con- 30 verted to the UOR standard with deliveries between late 1994, and the beginning of 1996. The aircraft was deployed in Bosnia with oper ational bomb drops carried out. The twelfth air craft was to become the trial installation aircraft for what is now known as Jaguar 96, imple mented by the Defence Evaluation Research Agency (DERA) and RAF's Logistics Com mand, with industry support. Thejaguar 96 upgrade was a far wider pack age across the whole fleet to enhance significantly the aircraft's combat utility, thus extending its service life. With the delays to the Eurofighter EF7000, the RAF's planned out- of-service date for thejaguar was pushed back to 2008. Thejaguar 96 standard aircraft is in front line service at Coltishall. There are effectively two standards of the Jaguar 96, TIALD, and non-TIALD capable aircraft. The latter aircraft are not fitted with the necessary display required for TIALD imagery. UPGRADE PATH This, however, was not the end of the upgrade path as far as thejaguar was concerned. DERA and Logistics Command took the opportunity to look beyond the 96 standard, to the 97 ver sion. While the UOR was carried out under the auspices of a service deviation order, thejaguar 96 and 97 will see a completely new military air craft release - and the subsequent change of des ignation. While the UOR aircraft are referred to as GRlbs, the 96/97 aircraft will eventually be referred to as thejaguar GR3, with the two- seat aircraft re-designated the T4. Besides providing a baseline for the whole Jaguar fleet, UOR, and 96 standard aircraft, the 97 package includes the GEC-Marconi Alpha HelmetMounted Sight (HMS) and liquid crys tal displays. The LCDs are being introduced to counter sunlight washout on the aircraft's pre sent displays, which is described as being a "definite problem". While such a transient affect may appear trivial, it can have a significant tactical impact. A TIALD attack, for instance, may be limited in terms of the directional approach, to take into account the position of the Sun relative to the cockpit. The firstjaguar 97 standard aircraft, XZ 399, is expected to fly from Boscombe Down by the middle of this year. Atwo-seatjaguar, XX833, is also being used by Boscombe Down in support of the 97 upgrade package, as well as for future planning. Alongside XX833, DERA is using an avion ics ground rig for the latest upgrade package, although this was not available for the Jaguar 96 programme. This is proving its efficacy, says DERA, in the sense that the developers can hold meetings with the operators from Coltishall, and then run, for example, various display options on the rig. The preferred option can then be selected for inclusion on the test air craft. As DERA points out, this cuts down on the amount of flight testing. Aircraft XX83 3, the aircraft on which DERA demonstrated the Jaguar 96 and 97 upgrade packages to Flight International, has been on a "long term loan" from the RAF. The aircraft was originally used, says DERA, to look at sin gle-scat TIALD operations as a "standalone FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 - 14 April 1998
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