JAGUARGR.1
To complement Brian Wakeman’s model build, Des Brennan looks at the history of the Sepecat Jaguar in RAF service. Part One: The Jaguar GR.1
1970s to fulfil a variety of attack roles and give both services a much needed modern combat aircraft. For France it meant being able to withdraw a number of obsolete types not only to protect Metropolitan France but to support extensive post-colonial obligations in Africa. For Britain it meant another step in redressing the damage caused by the 1957 Defence White Paper's erroneous assumption that guided missiles would replace manned combat aircraft, especially when the country was hardly then (or since) a world leader in home grown missile technology.
T Procurement of the McDonnell
F-4 Phantom had begun to redress the balance by temporarily replacing both Canberra and Hunter in the Interdiction, Ground Attack, Reconnaissance and Strike (a euphemism for nuclear) roles especially with those units in RAF Germany (RAFG). However in time it would be needed to replace the Lightning in the Air Defence role in the absence of the magic missile solution proposed in 1957.
Jaguar, originally proposed as a
an Anglo-French advanced trainer but developed instead as an attack aircraft would provide the answer by meeting the attack/strike/ reconnaissance requirement and releasing Phantom for Air Defence.
A fuller explanation of the Jaguar
advanced trainer concept and of twin-seat specifics are best explained together separately (and will be printed in a
he Sepecat Jaguar was introduced in to UK and French service early in the
subsequent issue of ‘SAM’) and although references to both are unavoidable my emphasis in what follows is focused on the single- seat variants operated by the RAF.
Genesis of a killer Cat In the early 1960s both the UK
and France had need of a new supersonic advanced trainer aircraft and for political reasons it suited both governments for it to be a joint venture.
Consequently the
UK's British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) later to become British Aerospace (BAe) and France's Breguet (soon to be fully absorbed by Dassault) formed SEPECAT to build the airframe with Rolls Royce and Turbomeca working likewise on their Adour engine. In comparison to what would follow with future cross-European aviation ventures SEPECAT proved an almost model working relationship.
Jaguar as it became known, was
predicated on an existing Breguet design, the Br.121, which the finished product would very much resemble although primarily in a single-seat form as both partners realised that their need for a new attack aircraft was greater than for a trainer. Undeterred by this change in emphasis the project proceeded apace for an entry into service during the early 1970s, initially for France with the UK following slightly later.
In a very general sense it could
be said that other than the obvious single/twin seat cockpit differences and sub-type nose and fin tip detail changes, all Jaguar variants were visually alike. Less obvious were the very different avionic fits chosen to equip the aircraft.
France had initially sought a
rather basically equipped trainer/attack aircraft which
became a single-seat example of the latter. The UK had even at the advanced trainer stage sought to have it equipped with cutting edge frontline systems, a requirement carried forward when interest shifted to a single seat strike aircraft. The small number of twin- seat aircraft now required as conversion/continuation trainers reflected these different national standards.
Production Jaguars were
powered by two Rolls Royce Turbomeca Adour Mk 102, later upgraded to the more powerful Mk 104, turbofan engines with re-heat and had a Mircroturbo Saphir Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) in the port main undercarriage bay. As built the aircraft carried two 30mm (one in UK twin-seaters) cannon and five (four underwing and one centreline) stores pylons. Single- seaters were built with an integral Air-To-Air Refuelling (AAR) probe folding into the side of the starboard nose, runway arrester hook and tail braking parachute were standard.
Jaguar with a British accent Entry in to RAF service began as
planned during the early 1970s, initially with the twin-seat Jaguar B. The Jaguar GR.1 entered RAF service in 1973 with the most effective avionics fit in a non-radar equipped combat aircraft of its generation based on the Marconi- Elliott Navigation and Weapons Aiming Sub-System (NAVWASS). Without getting too deeply drawn into the designation alphabet soup this drew data from fourteen sources including navigation/weapons-aiming/air- data computers and triple gyro INS to serve a moving map display and a much wider and
brighter HUD than usual to display full flight and mission data at a glance. TACAN, IFF, full radio suit and a RWR (Ferranti ARI 18223) mounted in the bar fairing across the fin. The first deliveries had a similar pointed style nose to Jaguar A until the Ferranti Laser Rangefinder and Marked-Target Seeker (LRMTS) became available and was retrofitted in the familiar chisel style nose fairing.
Early publicity photographs
showed the Jaguar GR.1 surrounded by all sorts of bombs, rockets and missiles but in service its role was to carry bombs, either a single WE 177C nuclear weapon, multiples of conventional 1,000lb HE or Hunting BL755 Cluster Bombs or, after entering service during the 1980s, LGBs. For reconnaissance some Jaguars were wired to carry the large BAe Recconaisance Pod with various camera options and Infra-Red Linescan (IRLS). Stores carried changed with time as did the systems that made the RAF Jaguar so effective.
In 1978 a process of re-engining
the aircraft with the more powerful Adour Mk 104 began in RAF Germany but was eventually spread across the fleet. From 1983 seventy- five aircraft were upgraded to GR.1A standard when the lighter, smaller and more efficient FIN 1064 INAS was introduced at the heart of NAVWASS. A computerised briefing and mission planning system was also introduced and the aircraft's defensive capabilities improved. Previously self-defence relied on low-level, high speed manoeuvrability, integral cannon or as a last resort releasing a HE bomb into a pursuer's path allegedly known as 'dropping ones knickers'! Now AN/ALE-40 flare dispensers were fitted under the rear fuselage, an optional five-shot dispenser could replace the brake parachute and either the Westinghouse ALQ- 101 ECM Pod, Phimat Chaff Dispenser/Pod or AIM- 9G Sidewinder AAM
No 6 Squadron Jaguar GR.3A XX724/EC at RAF Kinloss in November 2006 during a Combined Qualified Weapons Instructors Course (CQWIC). The aircraft carries a Vinten LOPROP pod below the fuselage, a Rangeless Aircraft Instrumentation Debriefing System (RAIDS) pod above the wing, but only drop tanks below the wings. The forward doors of the main undercarriage bay and rear doors of the nosebay are open for servicing. (All photos copyright Des Brennan)
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