The Hindu Business Line : Raytheon to upgrade Jaguar's missile firing system

PARIS: India has awarded a contract to US defence manufacturer Raytheon to integrate the Munitions Control Unit (MCU) on the Jaguar fighters, to enable the aircraft to fire even the latest US-made missiles.

“The MCU is a system that enables integration of modern weapons on legacy aircraft such as the Jaguar with minimal modifications to aircraft wiring attached to the weapons without any changes on other systems,” Raytheon Vice President for Missiles System s, Mr Harry Schlute said.

He added that after the integration of the MCU on the fleet of over 100 Jaguar aircraft in the IAF, pilots would be able to fire American-origin missiles such as the Pave-way precision-guided missiles, AIM-9M Sidewinders and Mavericks.

Majority of the IAF missiles are of the Russian and the French origin. Mr Schlute said that Raytheon had started the integration of the MCU on Jaguars in the second quarter of this year and plans to finish the work in less than 24 months.

India has recently released a global tender for acquiring over 100 close combat range missiles for the Jaguars and Raytheon is one of the contenders in the contract.

IAF is planning to carry out modifications and add more capabilities in the aircraft, which was inducted by India in the early 80s. - PTI

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