Produced to meet a 1965 joint Anglo-French specification for an advanced trainer/tactical support aircraft, the SEPECAT Jaguar was transformed into a potent fighter-bomber with sophisticated nav/attack systems for the low-level all-weather attack role. The first of eight Jaguar prototypes made its maiden flight on 8 September 1968. India's sizeable Jaguar fleet includes 15 two-seat Jaguar IT operational trainers. Ten have been assembled under licence.
The RAF received 200 Jaguars, comprising 165 single-seat GR.Mk Is (with chisel laser noses) and 35 T.Mk 2 trainers. The latter have the full nav/attack avionics suite but no lasers. Delivered in 1973-78, GR.Mk ls were tasked with nuclear strike, reconnaissance and conventional strike. Recce aircraft carry a centreline pod containing five cam-eras and an IR linescan. Only the Coltishall Wing remains, its GR.Mk ls gaining Adour Mk 104 engines from 1978-84. The GR.Mk 1A upgrade added a FIN1064 INS, AN/AILE-40 flare dispensers, Phimat flare pods and jamming pods to 75 single-seaters. Fourteen trainers were similarly upgraded as T.Mk 2As. For Operation Granby in 1991 Jaguars also used CRV-7 rockets and CBU-87 cluster bombs