Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria, AVSM, VM, Dy. Chief of the Air Staff, flew the upgraded Jaguar DARIN-III twin-seat aircraft at HAL airport recently and announced satisfactory completion of Initial Operation Clearance (IOC) of Jaguar DARIN III Upgrade. Wg. Cdr. V. Prabhakaran, Test Pilot, ASTE was his co-pilot.
Reacting to the development, Mr. T. Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL said the aircraft is now equipped with world class avionics system. Air Marshal Bhadauria congratulated all those involved in achieving this milestone and said the DARIN III Upgrade is one of best upgrades in terms of data handling and overall capabilities.
Mr D.K Venkatesh, Director (Engg. and R & D)-HAL greeting Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria, AVSM, VM, DCAS after successful flight of upgraded Jaguar DARIN III at HAL airport, Bengaluru. Mr. R Kaveri Renganathan, CEO (BC)-HAL is also seen
The total design and development covering system requirement capture, specification preparation, software, hardware, electrical and mechanical design and development were carried out indigenously at HAL’s Mission & Combat System Research & Design Centre (MCSRDC) and aircraft modification was done at Overhaul Division, added Mr. Raju.
Mr D.K Venkatesh, Director (Engg. and R & D), Mr. R Kaveri Renganathan, CEO (BC), Air Vice Marshal Sandeep Singh, AVSM, VM, Commandant ASTE and other senior executives witnessed the flight. Besides HAL, certification agencies, trial team of ASTE and other agencies were involved in the upgrade programme. Three DARIN I Standard Jaguars have been upgraded to DARIN III Standard by HAL.
The upgrade incorporates new state of the art avionics architecture including the Open System Architecture Mission Computer (OSAMC), Engine & Flight Instrument System (EFIS), Fire Control Radar, State of the Art Inertial Navigation System with GPS and Geodetic height correction, Solid State Digital Video Recording System (SSDVRS), Solid State Flight Data Recorder (SSFDR), Smart Multi-Function Display (SMD), Radio Altimeter with 20000 ft range, Autopilot with Alt Select & HNAV and Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF).
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Unfortunately, the engine couldn’t be upgraded ☹️
The IAF had to drop its plan to upgrade 80 Jaguar ground-attack fighters with new engines on account of the $2.4 billion price tag for the new Honeywell F125IN turbofan engines.