last RAF Jaguars to retire

[jaffo4011]

The MOD announced that the RAF's ten remaining Jaguar aircraft will leave service after 33 years at the end of April 2007....

ill miss these underrated and effective aircraft and i wonder if they shouldnt have been retained a little longer.the tornado gr4's in service are rapidly using up their airframe lives and the loss of the jags could leave a capability gap until the arrival of the next typhoon trenche upgrades take effect.
at least this should have the desired effect of not allowing the mod to procrastinate on the implementation of the ground attack capability upgrades.

 

[Tornado F3]

yep very sad indeed, iv saw this spectacular aircraft at various Leuchars airshows in the past and the aircraft is amaizing,

 

[Zapp_Brannigan]

one of the highlights of my holiday to Great Britain way back when I was ten, was getting to sit in the cockpit of a RAF Jaguar at the Norfolk County Show, .......actually the whole display done by the UK Armed Services that day reinforced my plans from a very young age to return home to Great Britain and become an Officer in the Royal Engineer Corps.

 

[Highwayman]

Yet again the British government has highlighted their ineptitude by spending millions of pounds upgrading the Jaguar fleet then retiring it early before its replacement is available.
I am no expert but I remember reading somewhere that relatively low spec aircraft such as the Jaguar are ideal for the type of conflicts we are currently involved in but aircraft such as the Typhoon with their high purchase price aren't cost effective.
The Americans seem to be aware these thoughts hence the continuing use of the A10.

 

[Rich]

A fine and capable airplane that served her nations well. Best of all she served with distinction in combat as well. I remember how during Gulf-1 the Jag was viewed by some as an old Lady unable to be tasked with Lo attack missions which ended up being tasked to Tornadoes, that is until, the Tornadoes started getting shot to pieces with the from the Iraqi low level AA and they then had to adopt attack postures akin to the Jags.

I remember the Turk and Greek airbases being ringed with quad-50s back in the day. If it works then it works and shouldn't be changed. That sounds like a good epitaph for the Jaguar.

In the end the Jag was just a darn fine aircraft that had an exemplary service life. She was always under-rated but the simply fact was she was designed perfectly for the missions she was tasked with. And they did many missions, and were as "multi-role" as anything that ever took to the skies. I know the Indians are still flying them and are quite fond of them.

They weren't fancy ; They simply worked! And they will be missed.

 

[keyersoze]

one of the highlights of my holiday to Great Britain way back when I was ten, was getting to sit in the cockpit of a RAF Jaguar at the Norfolk County Show, .......actually the whole display done by the UK Armed Services that day reinforced my plans from a very young age to return home to Great Britain and become an Officer in the Royal Engineer Corps.

Not an officer in the womens auxiliary balloon corps? (Blackadder humour for those of you who don't know!)

The Jaguars will still be in Indian service until roughly 2015 so you still might see a few at airshows

 

[riksavage]

I understand the motivation for retiring the Jaguars early was to get the supporting ground crews transferred and trained-up on Typhoon squadrons coming on-line. Of key importance is the need to get Typhoons out to Afghanistan to take the pressure off the Harrier force.

On a related topic the Mauser 27mm cannons fitted to Typhoons will now become operational (ammo transferred from the GR4 fleet) . 11 Sqn will commence training to strafe targets ahead of its deployment to Afghanistan. They will then deploy with enhanced paveway laser/GPS guided bombs and Mauser cannons in the CAS role.

As a result of current operations the planned move of Typhoons to the Falklands will be delayed until 2008 .

 

[harryriedl]

Yet again the British government has highlighted their ineptitude by spending millions of pounds upgrading the Jaguar fleet then retiring it early before its replacement is available.
I am no expert but I remember reading somewhere that relatively low spec aircraft such as the Jaguar are ideal for the type of conflicts we are currently involved in but aircraft such as the Typhoon with their high purchase price aren't cost effective.
The Americans seem to be aware these thoughts hence the continuing use of the A10.

naa the jags were almost out of hours the averge fleet age was 5000 hours and one 6500[acroding to AFM] and there only 10 opreration gr3. it was their tyem to go. their engines were a bit weak because their trainer background 33 years not bad