Raytheon begins to enhance Jaguar fighter aircraft capability

US defence major Raytheon has started the process to enhance capabilities of the Indian Air Force's Jaguar fighter aircraft fleet by enabling it to fire latest precision guided munitions.

"Raytheon has started procuring components required to build the Munitions Control Units (MCU) for 126 of the Indian Air Force's Jaguar Darin II attack aircraft," the company said in a statement.

MCU enables integration of modern weapons on older aircraft with minimal modifications to aircraft wiring and the flight or stores management software.

"The MCU's compact size enables it to be located in a weapons pylon or avionics bay of a legacy aircraft. From there, it interfaces between 'smart' weapons and the existing software of a legacy aircraft," it added.

Raytheon Missile Systems' vice president Harry Schulte said, "MCU will give the Jaguar the capability to employ 'smart' or 'advanced' weapons like the Maverick missile, Paveway precision-guided munition and AIM-9M Sidewinder air-to-air missile."

Raytheon was awarded a contract to build the MCU in 2011, and funding was authorized for the system in 2012.

In anticipation of the contract, Raytheon began preliminary work to integrate MCU on Jaguar in 2008.

- Brahmand