History of Jaguar induction (By Air Marshal Brijesh Jayal)
Posting for the general information of the miltarry aviasun kamminuti of Inquisitors (Ma Ki)
"There was anxiety in the IAF, because the Engineering Branch had flagged a worry that many aircraft in the Canberra fleet were suffering from corrosion in the undercarriage and the problem may only worsen. Hence the search for the so- called Deep Penetration Strike Aircraft (DPSA) began. Clearly, the preference was for a twin engined aircraft (all things being equal), but this was not a mandatory requirement .
The Mirage Fi, Jaguar and the Viggen were flight evaluated by an ASTE team and after a pretty long and deliberate process, the choice was between the Jaguar and Viggen. The problem was that the Viggen had a US engine and CAS ACM Latif and the Defence Secretary Sushital Banerji went to Sweden to confirm guaranteed product support. Unfortunately, the US did not play ball and the Viggen had to be dropped. Otherwise, it is quite possible that the IAF would have been operating the Viggen.
As it appeared that the choice would fall on the Jaguar, various vested interests came into play !! It is worth recalling that this was pre Bofors time and those days it was common for Vendors reps(both Indian and Foreign) to be allowed to meet us in our offices. That there were lobbies and vested interests was also known, at least to us in the Plans Branch as we were dealing with vendors, both Indian and Foreign, all the time! It was at this time that an article appeared in the India Today magazine (which was pretty new) which supposedly quoted test pilots who had evaluated the aircraft bad mouthing the Jaguar !! The article was obviously a plant by vested interests. But it was enough to cast doubts on Air HQ case for the Jaguar.
When the final case came up for Cabinet approval, the PM Morarji Desai requested ACM Latif, if he could personally meet the test pilots , one by one, who had evaluated the aircraft without the CAS's presence !! The PM met Babi Dey and Prithi Singh (the two evaluating tps) individually, to assure himself that all was well. Chandu Gole the DASR then gave a presentation to the CCPA during which I was displaying the charts. It was only after this that the Cabinet approved the Jaguar procurement."
