The Indian Air Force’s ageing Jaguar fighter fleet is facing serious challenges over spare parts supplies, but the aircraft’s key role in maintaining the IAF’s fleet strength and its maritime role are the reasons India continues to operate them even today.
The IAF has six squadrons of Jaguars still in service and is the only air force in the world to still fly them, even as other nations, such as the United Kingdom, France, Oman, Nigeria, and Ecuador, have already retired their fleets.
The end of the service life of the Jaguar fleets in other nations has resulted in the manufacturing of spares and supplies for the aircraft redundant today.
With the original equipment manufacturers in France and the UK no longer producing the aircraft, stocks of components have reduced significantly.
The IAF’s Jaguars urgently need supplies, and this has become a major problem for India to sustain the fleet, according to IAF officers. To sustain the fleet, India, in recent years, sourced used airframes and spares from nations that had retired the Jaguars.
The most important concern for the Indian fleet of Jaguars is the declining availability of the Martin-Baker Mk-9 ejection seat spares, considered a critical safety system for pilots during emergencies.
The recent mid-air collision involving two US Navy E/A-18 Growlers in the US highlighted the problem involving modern ejection seats for combat aircraft and the safety of pilots. The Growlers, too, are equipped with Martin-Baker ejection seats.
The manufacturer had already stopped producing components for the ejection seat, causing a major maintenance challenge for the Indian Jaguar fleet, officials said. The IAF is said to have adopted 3D printing to produce spares for the aircraft and to keep it operational.
The IAF is currently in the process of identifying domestic alternatives for the Martin-Baker Mk-9 ejection seats to keep the Jaguars operational till 2035, when it is scheduled to be phased out.
The Chandigarh-based Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) had tested an indigenous ejection seat in recent years that is being viewed as an alternative.
The Jaguar fleet has recorded 10 crashes since June 2015, including three incidents in 2025. The accidents had cost Squadron Leader Lokendra Singh, Flight Lieutenant Rishi Raj Singh, and Flight Lieutenant Siddhartha Yadav their lives.
The IAF has, in recent decades, upgraded the Jaguars through the DARIN-III modernisation project, providing the aircraft with modern avionics and an advanced Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar.
The IAF had also planned a re-engining project for the Jaguars and had zeroed in on the Honeywell F-125IN engine for the modernisation programme, but had to give up due to huge costs.
With the IAF fighter fleet precariously down to nearly 30 squadrons from the sanctioned 42.5 squadrons is among the primary reasons for India to continue operating the ageing aircraft, IAF officers said.
The other reason is its critical role in maritime deep strike missions, a key capability that comes in handy for India to safeguard its interests in the Arabian Sea, facing Pakistan, they said.
The Jaguars are the second most widely used fixed-wing combat aircraft in IAF service. A typical fighter squadron operates 18 to 20 aircraft. The IAF first inducted the Jaguars in the 1980s, and these aircraft are among the oldest in IAF service after the retirement of the Soviet-origin MiG-21s.