India’s upgraded Jaguar DARIN III achieved Initial Operational Clearance on 23rd November. The announcement was made by Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria, Chief of the Air Staff, who recently flew the aircraft.

Design and development work was carried out indigenously by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at the company’s Mission & Combat System Research & Design Centre (MCSRDC). Aircraft modification work was done at HAL’s Overhaul Division.

HAL has so far upgraded three Jaguars to the DARIN III Standard out of a planned total of 60 aircraft. HAL produced 120 Jaguars altogether.

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.

Other features include a Solid State Digital Video Recording System (SSDVRS), Solid State Flight Data Recorder (SSFDR), Smart Multi-Function Display (SMD), Radio Altimeter with 20,000ft range, Autopilot with Alt Select & HNAV and Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF).

There are also plans to install more powerful (43.8kN) Honeywell F-125N engines in place of the current 32.5kN Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour Mk811.