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SEA HARRIER RETIREMENT
BY: Vinayak Shetty For Security October issue
Indian navy plans to retire Sea Harrier VTOL/STOVL jet fighter from its service from 2014 onwards , Naval officials based in Ins Hansa have confirmed this report , Ins Hansa is also a major base for Naval fighter squadrons and currently has Sea Harriers , recently acquired Mig-29k along with Kiran-Mk2 aircrafts .
India Acquired 30 jets in mid-80s and later ten more were acquired in late 80s , bringing this numbers to 40 jets which included single and two seat aircrafts used for training purpose , Sea Harriers operated from the aircraft carriers INS Vikrant and INS Viraat.
Sea Harriers had very troublesome history with Indian navy, jet was very difficult to master and operate , 28 jets were lost in this short service of 25 years with Indian navy , recently many of the jets have been upgraded with Israeli Elta 2032 MMR radar which enabled it to fire Rafael Derby medium range BVR air to air missile , almost 14 jets were upgraded with this new radar giving it BVR capability along with mid-air refueling probe which was re-installed in them to carry midair refueling .
Even with upgraded Sea harrier has been lost in accident recently which killed its co-pilot of the Goa coast, Indian Navy in 2005 has decided to purchase 8 retired British navy Sea harrier to keep a Squadron of this VTOL fighter jets till 2020, but the plans to bring additional jets with additional engines fell flat since, price for acquisition and up gradation turned up to be in the higher side.
Since this jets have already been retired from British navy in 2006, spares are getting harder to come, with a small numbers of jet it possesses decision to retire them was made recently, retirement will start from 2014 onwards,
Indian navy also recently signed contract to acquire more 29 Mig-29k for its aerial operations and it fully committed to Countries Naval-Tejas fighter jet program, first flight of Naval-Tejas is expected by early 2011.
Indian navy also wants to acquire more 40 modern jets other than Mig-29k and Naval Tejas, and already has send RFP to international Aircraft manufactures, many defense have hinted that additional aircrafts from IAFs MMRCA aircraft deal might go to Navy.
Since this jets have already been retired from British navy in 2006, spares are getting harder to come, with a small numbers of jet it possesses decision to retire them was made recently, retirement will start from 2014 onwards, Indian navy also recently signed contract to acquire more 29 Mig-29k for its aerial operations and it fully committed to Countries Naval-Tejas fighter jet program, first flight of Naval-Tejas is expected by early 2011.