Douglas Barrie/LONDON
The UK Ministry of Defence is in the final phase of studying a complete re-build of the Rolls-Royce Turboméca engines powering the Royal Air Force's Sepecat Jaguar fleet, aimed at providing additional thrust while also reducing maintenance demands.
The upgraded powerplant, likely to be referred to as the Mk106, would draw on the core of the Adour 871 and the reheat element of the 811. The RAF aircraft are fitted with the Mk104.
The Adour 871 is an unreheated version of the engine, which is fitted to the British Aerospace Hawk, while the 811 was an uprated variant which was developed to power Indian air force Jaguars.
Whitehall sources suggest that, because of the UK Government's continuing Strategic Defence Review, final approval for the engine-upgrade programme will not be forthcoming, at least until future aircraft planning numbers are cleared. All indications are, however, that the Jaguar engine upgrade is being looked at positively.
The RAF's 40-strong Jaguar fleet is the focus of a continuing avionics programme, which is being led by the Defence Evaluation Research Agency. The aircraft is planned to remain in service at least until 2008, when it will be replaced by the Eurofighter EF2000.The avionics upgrade is designed to improve the aircraft's ability to employ precision-guided weapons as well as fitting the Jaguar with a better navigation suite.
Source: Flight International
