Jaguar fighter jet accidents: Remembering the pilots and the aging fleet

The two IAF pilots who were killed in the crash of a Jaguar fighter aircraft in Rajasthan on July 9 have been identified as Squadron Leader Lokendra Singh Sindhu from Haryana’s Rohtak and Flight Lieutenant Rishiraj Singh Devda, who hailed from Sumerpur in Pali district of Rajasthan.

Both pilots were posted with the No. 5 Squadron, ‘Tuskers,’ at Ambala airbase and were deployed at Barmer airbase in Rajasthan for a routine training exercise.

Their last rites are expected to be performed on Thursday.

The 44-year-old Sindhu had been commissioned into the IAF’s Flying Branch in December 2014 and had been promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader in 2020, according to sources.

His father retired as a superintendent from Maharshi Dayanand University, while his wife, Surbhi, is a doctor. Devda, who was 23, is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy.

His father runs a hotel business in Rajasthan. The No. 5 Squadron, to which the ill-fated two-seater trainer version belonged, happens to be the first bomber unit raised by the IAF and also the first IAF unit to use jet aircraft in combat. The Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar, with which it is currently equipped, is a deep-penetration strike aircraft, having served the IAF since 1979.

The Squadron was raised as part of the erstwhile Royal Indian Air Force in November 1948 at Kanpur with B-24 Liberator propeller-driven heavy bombers under the command of Wing Commander (Wg Cdr) JRS ‘Danny’ Dantra. This was the first time an Indian squadron took over the task of bombing.

Heretofore, Indian units had only operated fighter-bombers, basically fighters equipped to carry a small payload of bombs, in the strike role. It was also the first time that the IAF inducted a four-engine aircraft.

In January 1957, the IAF selected the jet-engine English Electric Canberra for its bomber and strategic reconnaissance units. In September 1957, No. 5 Squadron, under the command of Wg Cdr WR Dani, became the first squadron to re-equip with the aircraft’s B(I)58 bomber-interdictor variant.

By then, Agra had become the squadron’s new home. As the IAF’s senior bomber unit, No. 5 Squadron, along with other Canberra units, pioneered and developed operational doctrines and tactics for high-altitude horizontal bombing while keeping in mind the emerging threat from surface-to-air missiles. In 1961, a detachment from No. 5 Squadron was deployed to the United Nations Operation in the Congo.

The 1971 Bangladesh liberation campaign saw the Tuskers back in action, undertaking sorties in the eastern as well as western theaters. Among the first units to retaliate to Pakistani pre-emptive strikes, the squadron had a greater involvement in land battles, particularly in the Chhamb Sector. It also attacked the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) bases at Chander and Risalwala to counter Pakistani air support to its ground troops.

The squadron operated the Canberra at Agra until 1981 and re-formed at Ambala in August 1981, moving on to the new-generation Jaguar strike aircraft. It was the second unit to induct the Jaguar after No. 14 Squadron. In addition to the primary strike role, it also assumed reconnaissance duties. In July 1988, the squadron participated in Operation Pawan as part of the Indian Peace-Keeping Force in Sri Lanka, flying long-range reconnaissance sorties over Jaffna from India and being on standby for strike missions if required.

During the 1999 Kargil conflict, the Squadron operated a Detachment at Halwara. In 2005, the IAF began to upgrade the Jaguar fleet with advanced avionics and weapons suites, and the operational capability of the squadron was enhanced. Yesterday’s crash, the third this year involving the Jaguar, has again focused attention on the aging fleet and the challenges of sustainability. Earlier this year, the IAF lost a Jaguar from its Ambala airbase in March, though the pilot had ejected, and another IB version from Jamnagar in April, in which one of the pilots, a Flight Lieutenant, was killed, and the other was seriously injured.

There have been numerous accidents involving the Jaguar in the past. IAF sources said that the fleet has suffered close to 60 major and minor incidents in its 45-year service, with about two dozen airframes being written off and 17 pilots losing their lives so far. In recent years, according to IAF officers, the sustainability of the fleet and maintenance have become a cause for concern, and aging has made it prone to technical failure. Experts estimate that roughly Turbomeca Adour Mk 881 engines are another issue, and the IAF’s move to re-equip the aircraft with a more powerful Honeywell engine did not make any headway due to cost factors. Barring a lone surviving squadron of the MiG-21, the Jaguar is now the oldest fighter aircraft in the IAF’s inventory.

In 1979, 40 aircraft were imported from the UK, followed by license manufacture of 150 aircraft by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, with aircraft rolling off the assembly lines as late as 2007. India is the sole remaining Jaguar operator, with other users — France, the UK, Oman, Nigeria, and Ecuador — having retired them. At present, the IAF operates around 114 twin-engine Jaguars, equipping six squadrons – No 5, 6, 14, 16, 27, and 224, based at Ambala, Jamnagar, and Gorakhpur, forming a crucial element of its strike capability and tactical reconnaissance. Some Jaguars have also been modified for the maritime role with anti-ship missiles. A few years ago, the IAF began re-equipping the Jaguar with the DARIN-III advanced navigation and attack avionics suite, and earlier this year, it initiated another project to re-equip the fleet with new-generation close-combat air-to-air missiles, transport platforms, as well as cruise missiles and UAVs.

Recently, India procured 31 decommissioned Jaguar airframes from France and two each from the UK and Oman, along with several thousand aero-spares to replace some aircraft lost due to attrition and ensure serviceability of the existing fleet. Though the IAF has not disclosed the aircraft employed to carry out precision strikes Op Sindoor in May this year, it is believed that Jaguars may have taken part. The IAF now plans to modify 112 Jaguars for launching High Speed Low Drag (HSLD) Mark-II bombs, a family of guided munitions developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

Haryana Tribune